Gray Fox's final fantasy
by eternity of black
Summary: Gray Fox is denied death a second time. Following the events in MGS, Gray Fox is taken to Spira. MGSffx crossover with a hint of fftactics.
1. Death of a Fox

Authors note.  
I do not own any of the metal gear characters, or the final fantasy ones either. if i did Gray fox would never have died. 

Just so you know this story was inspired by the metal gear spira story, in the sense that it made me want to do a metal gear/ffx crossover with grey fox. I will be deviating from the games plot, because lets face it, if gray fox was there things would have gone differently.

This story is about Gray Fox, and we need to start it at his death. This was my favorite scene from MGS except for when Vulcan dies.

(just so you know this scene was taken word for word from the playstation game which i don't own)

-  
Part one: The death of a fox

"Did that do it?" muttered Solid Snake as he waited to see if REX was still operational.  
The stingers had only done minor damage to the radome, and REX gave a triumpiant roar.

"Damn!" Snake yelled in frustration.

"Nice try, Snake!" Liquid taunted, "DIE!!"

Just when things were getting tough for Solid Snake help appeared in the form of the cyber ninja, Gray Fox.

"Hurry! Get away!" Screamed the cyborg as the monsterous Metal Gear stomped towards him. The ninja threw himself strait under the hulking machines foot and stopped it as Snake retreated to safty.

"Gray Fox!!" Snake said in suprise.

"A name from long ago. It sounds better than Deepthroat." Replied Fox, still under REX's foot.

"So it is you!?" Snake asked his old friend.

"You look terrible, Snake. You haven't aged well." Fox said before Liquid interrupted them.

"I'll send you back to hell!" Liquid spat as he tried to crush Gray Fox again. The ninja was much to fast for REX however and quickly dodged the attack. Liquid charged him as Fox lept back and began firing powerful shots at the radome, which damaged it heavily.

REX had temporarily lost its ability to locate them and went on a blind rampage. This gave Fox time to speak to Snake without much fear of attack.

"Fox, why!? What do you want from me!?" Snake questioned.

"i am a prisoner of Death. Only you can free me..." He said painfully.

"Fox, stay out of this. What about Naomi? She's hell bent on taking revenge for you." said Snake, trying to convince his former comrade.

"Naomi..." Fox said quitely.

"You're the only one who can stop her." Snake told him, all the while very aware of the rampaging REX in the background.

"No. i, i can't." He studdered as he said it.

"Why?" Asked Snake.

"Because i'm the one who killed her parents." He revealed mournfully. "I was young then and i couldn't bring myself to kill her too. I felt so bad that i decided to take her with me. I raised her like she was my own blood to soothe my guilty conscience. Even now she thinks of me as her brother..."

"Fox." Snake said in shock.

"From the outside we might have seemed like a happy brother and sister. But every time i looked at her, i saw her parents eyes staring back at me. Tell her for me. Tell her that i was the one who did it." He said as REX finally found them.

"There you are!" Cried Liquid as he sprayed thier location with bullets.

"We're just about out of time." Spoke Fox with sorrow in his voice. "Here's a final present from Deepthroat. I'll stop it from moving!" He shouted as he dashed towards Metal Gear.

"Fox!" Snake yelled in protest but it was too late, as Fox was already engaging the metal giant. He ran and dashed around sporadically, dodging machine gun rounds like crazy.  
But not even Gray Fox could dodge that thing forever, and eventually REX connected with one of its lasers. It lopped Fox's left arm clean off.

Fox fled to a balcony, still dodging as bullets flew all around him. He did an acrobatic back flip and took aim at Metal Gears radome. REX was too quick this time, and pinned him against the wall with its huge metal face. Fox's blood spattered the walls but he wasn't ready to give up yet.

"In the middle east we don't hunt foxes, we hunt jackals. Instead of foxhounds we use royal harriers." Liquid said from inside REX.

"Fox!" Snake shouted as he watched helplessly.

"How strong is that exoskellton of yours?" Liquid asked as he put more pressure on Fox's failing body. "Snake, Are you just going to sit by and watch him die"  
As liquid said this, Fox aimed and fired at REX's radome.

"A conered fox is more dangerous than a jackal!" Fox screamed in pain.

"He destoryed the radome..." Snake said to himself. Snake knew what this meant, and sure enough within seconds Liquid backed REX off a few feet and opened up REX's face hatch.

"Impressive. You are indeed worthy of the codename Fox! But now your finished!" Liquid shouted as he looked at the fallen soldier.

"Uuunnggh!! Now! Fire the stinger!" Fox begged Snake.

"Fox!" Snake yelled stuned.

"Can you really shoot?" Liquid asked. "You'll kill him too!"

Snake took aim with the stinger but couldn't bring himself to take the shot.

"Now," Gray Fox started, "in front of you i can finally die. After Zanzibar i was taken from the battle, neither truly alive, nor truly dead. An undying shadow in the world of lights. But soon, soon, it will finally end." Fox finished as Liquid swept him off the balcony and back to the floor.

"DIE!" Liquid screamed one last time as he brought REX's foot down on Gray Fox. Fox knew he had little time left as he spoke to Snake.

"Snake we're not tools of the government, or anyone else! Fighting was the only thing,  
the only thing i was good at. But, at least i always fought for what i believed in. Snake,  
farewell." Fox finished before REX's leg was lifted again. A few seconds passed before Liquid sent it smashing down into Gray Fox for the killing blow.

Fox didn't hear anything after that, just fuzzy noises. He did feel something though, a pull.  
He felt his legs being pulled down. But that couldn't be right, he was being pulled into the floor,  
no through the floor. He desended into a strange room, one that couldn't be on Shadow Moses.  
It was a large and circular room, with statues all around him.

The man known as Gray Fox found that he could stand, and got up. He first realized he had his arm back, how was this possible? He also saw he was no longer in his exoskeleton, he had his old body back.

"Do you like our gifts, hunter?" said a voice that seemed to come from every statue in the room.

"What are you?" was all Fox could think to ask.

"We are the strands of fate, and we have choosen you. There is a creature whos power threatens to tear apart the worlds. It cannot be allowed to exist any longer." spoke the statues.

"How can i kill something so powerful?" asked the Fox who was denied death yet again.

"You are the hunter. You will be givin our power in your fight against this threat. Even with all our might you will not be able to kill it alone." the statues continued.

"Why should i do this! Why can't i just die!!" Fox said in a rage.

"Were you to die now you would surely face the torments of hell. We can see to it that you enter the gates of heaven." Spoke the statues.

"Where is this threat?" asked Fox.

"It is in a world unknown to you. It has dwelled in Spira for a thousand years. Fear the beast with two faces." spoke the statues, as the room began to spin. Fox tried to hold on to something but it was no use, it was pulling him down. Down again, into blackness.

-------------- End of part one.

Just one thing, Gray Fox's real name is Frank Jaeger. Jaeger is german for hunter, and thats the reason i made the statues call him hunter. The next chapters will be longer and i plan to make this a pretty long fic.  
Say what you want in the review and any ideas you might have are welcome.


	2. A Whole New Ballgame

I don't own any of the metal gear solid characters or the final fantasy ones. This is less of an action chapter, it sets up the plot and all that good stuff.

-  
Part two: A whole new ballgame

It was bright. Much brighter than the dark place he had been dragged into, where was he? He was on his back in sand with his sword next to him. He got up and noticed a cool breeze, excellent. The man known as Gray Fox checked his surroundings. Where ever he was it was quite tropical. There where palm trees and vegitation everywhere, it reminded him of Zanzibar.

He shook the memories and focused, he was here for a reason. He set off down the beach and kept his eyes out for a town or some sign of life. After a few minutes he heard something, rustling in the bushes.  
He didn't know if it would be hostile or not so he dived into the trees to his right and waited.

"Cmon! Lady Yuna is leaving today, we have to go to town and see her off." yelled a small child. She looked no older than four or five and was running as fast as she could.

"I know sis! Just slow down." said another child running after her. He followed them in the trees, and decided not to alert them to his presense. After about a half mile they reached the outskirts of a town.  
It was primative looking and there were huts surrounding a fire pit. On top of a hill on the other side of this small town was a large building made of stone. It looked like some kind of temple and there were torches around it.

Gray Fox watched the children and townsfolk. They were all gathered and saying good bye to four people and one very large muscular cat-person thing. Fox was suprised by this new creature, who looked like it was a formidable fighter, but he wasn't caught off gaurd. He was in a different world after all.

After sizing the town up, Fox made his desicion. He stepped out from the trees and let them see him. They looked at him and many people averted thier eyes, he hadn't noticed he wasn't wearing clothes. He looked down at himself and thought it might be better to get some clothes on before he told them anything about himself.

"Do you have any clothes?" Fox asked the shocked townspeople.

"Yes of course, right this way." Said a man who gestured to one of the huts.

"Maybe we should wait and see who he is?" a girl from the group that was leaving said.

"We'll stay and make sure he's not trouble, ya." Another member said, he had a ball in his hand and red hair that was quite odd.

After putting on his new clothes Gray Fox looked himself over in the mirror. It had been so long since he had seen his own body. He felt all his old scars and each one brought with it the memory of a battle. He was also glad to see that his body was still as physically fit as he remembered.

His new clothes made him feel foolish, it was a kimono. Basically anyway, it was pretty shabby. All that was missing now was his swor-

His sword! How could he have forgotton it? He had left it lying there on the beach, how foolish! After all his training he can't even remember his sword! He calmed himself and realized he had enough to worry about. He'd get his sword later, right now he needed information about this new world.

He walked back outside and walked right up to the girl in the long elegant dress. She was obviously the most respected person in the village. Fox could tell because she was the one the town was gathered around. He walked right at her before three people stood in his way. It was the man with the ball, a woman in black who carried a doll, and the cat monster. They were quickly joined by a young man with blonde hair, who was much too full of himself.

"What do you want with Yuna?" He said. It was more of a demand than a question.

"Just to talk." said Fox.

"Its okay, Tidus. May i ask who i'll be talking to?" said Yuna, she was very polite.

"No. Only my comrades can hear my true name. You will know my title, Gray Fox." he told her.

"Okay Gray Fox. But i just want you to know that we are all comrades here." Yuna replied.

"Not to me. To become my comrade you must face death with me in battle. Enough of this, where am i?" asked Fox.

"Look pal, don't talk down to us. Treat us with respect." said the man called Tidus.

"You have not earned my respect. I want to get this done quickly, now where am i?" Fox asked again.

"You are in Besaid Village." replied Yuna.

"Besaid?" Fox said wondering. He really was in another world. "Have any of you ever heard of the beast with two faces?" asked Fox.

"Beast with two faces? I've never heard of anything like that. Do know more about it?" asked the woman in black.

"Probably a fiend, ya?" said the man with red hair.

"Fiend?" Fox said, not understanding.

"Oh c'mon, a fiend! A big monster ya." the red haired man practically yelled at him. "Can't believe he don't know what a fiend is."

"Maybe its a fiend, but this isn't just some big monster. I was told it had the power to tear apart worlds." Fox told them.

"Sin." said the huge cat beast.

"Ya, thats gotta be Sin. Only beast i know that can do what you said." added the red hair man.

"Sin, thank you." Fox said as he turned around and walked away. He had his target now.

"Wait! Where are you going Gray Fox?" asked Yuna.

"To get my sword, and then kill this Sin." Fox said as he headed for the trees.

"Wh, wait. Don't you know you can't kill Sin by yourself?" she asked him in disbelief. Then he remembered what the statues told him. She was right, he would need help. But where would he find it? He decided to ask the girl about Sin. He needed to know what he was up against.

"What is this Sin?" he asked them. From the looks on thier faces he could tell they were shocked he didn't already know.

"Man, first we had to explain everything to Tidus and now to him. How many people don't know about Sin?" said the red hair man.

"Sin is the punishment for our sins. Once the world was full of machina, and then Sin came to punish us." said Yuna

"Punish you for what?" asked Fox.

"For using machina of course!" said the red hair man.

"Look, lets go inside the temple and talk about this." said Yuna. Fox agreed and walked into the stone structure.

"Gray Fox, i haven't introduced you to my friends. The guy with the bliztball is Wakka." She said as she pointed to the red haired man. "This is Lulu." she pointed to the woman in black. "Thats Kimahri, he looks scary but hes okay." she pointed to the cat beast. "Oh, and thats Tidus. He says hes from Zanarkand." she pointed to the young man with blond hair.

Over the next hour or so Gray Fox listined as they described this world to him. He listined as they told him of Sin, Zanarkand, and the Final Summoning. He became more convinced that this Sin was what he was taken here to kill when they told him it had been around for a thousand years.

Gray Fox was also excited to hear that this was not a world of guns and bombs. He would be fighting with his sword, the weapon he considered to be the most honorable. When they told him about Yuna being a summoner and that she was on her way to defeat Sin he knew why he had been led to them.

"Yuna, would you like another guardian?" Fox asked.

"One more wouldn't hurt, but you must not take this lightly. It is a dangerous pilgrimage, and many have died while on it, understand?" she asked him.

"I am no stranger to battle. You will find me most useful should something need killing." he said as he stood up.

"Very well then, you may accompany me on my pilgrimage. Lets be off." she said as they all stood up.

"Finally, ya. I thought we'd be here forever." Wakka cried as he streched.

"I'll need my sword." Fox reminded them as they left the temple. "I left it on the beach."

"We'll pick it up on the way. We've gotta go along the beach for awhile anyway." Tidus said happily.

After they had walked about a half mile Fox went down to the water and began searching for his sword. The others helped and eventually Lulu found it.

"Is this it?" she asked as she showed him.

"Yes." replied Fox as he took the blade and put it in his kimono.

"What kinda sword is that? I've never seen one like it." asked Wakka.

"It cuts and thats all it needs to do." Fox told Wakka.

------------ end of part two.

Note: i seriously considered not putting Tidus in the story. Overall i decided that would just take too much away and i left him in.

The third chapter is gonna take a little longer. If you want it sonner tell me so in a review and i'll hurry up. 


	3. Sin

I do not own the mgs characters or the final fantasy ones. 

-  
Part Three: Sin

As they boarded the boat Gray Fox picked a spot and began to think. This was not going to be as easy as he had initally thought, from what he'd been told Sin was supposed to be massive. He would not be able to kill it with only his sword. And he knew the final summoning wouldn't work either because they told him Sin always comes back from it. Fox just didn't see how it could be done.

Then he remembered another thing the statues had said, "You will be givin our power in your fight against this this threat." What power did they offer? He didn't feel any more powerful, he didn't even have his exoskeleton anymore. He felt like he was back to regular human strength and reflexes.  
He heard people at the other end of the boat cheer as Tidus did some blitzball tricks. Fox wondered how these people hoped to defeat Sin. They had no armor and they seemed much to childish to be considered warriors by his standards. With the possible execption of the ronso and Lulu, he didn't think any of them had even been in a real battle before.

Some time later, when he was still deep in thought, the entire ship rocked violently. Fox ran to others and waited.

"What do you think that was? Maybe a big fiend?" Wakka asked nobody in particular. A few seconds after he said this the ship rocked again, worse this time. About fifty yards from the ship a massive fin rose from the water and shot pods all over the deck.

"SIN!" shouted the crew in horror.

"We're close to Killika, we might be able to make it!" shouted the captain.

Meanwhile the pods began to hatch into little creatures that reminded Fox of moths, moths that couldn't fly.  
The ship quickly became a battle field as the sinspawn charged. Fox drew his sword and began to carve them into pieces. He found that his body had not lost the strength his exoskeleton had provided, and guessed that this was at least some of the power the statues had spoke of. Fox weaved in between the sinspawn and easily sliced a path of bloody carnage where ever he went.

Fox saw that his group were much better fighters then he had origionally assumed. Wakka's blitzball seemed to have some magical properties and every time it hit a sinspawn the creature would have severe burns on the point of impact. Lulu was blasting the things away with tunder spells and Kimahri was impaling them without difficulty. A random crew member let out a war cry and charged into a sinspawn, blade first. He killed it, but his victory was short lived. Seconds later one scuttled up behind him and chewed trhough his leg. The poor guy screamed in shock as he was dragged to the ground and swarmed. Within seconds there was nothing left of him but a bloodstain on the deck.

Tidus was not faring so well however and he was on his back fighting a sinspawn on top of him. Fox dashed over and chopped the sinspawn clean in half before helping Tidus up. He resolved to teach Tidus how to kill effeciently sometime soon. Meanwhile, the ship was a varitable battleground as blood and gore was spattered ever where. Fox lept and kicked one of the creatures off the ship, then spun and hacked another that tried to suprise him from behind. After a few more chaotic battle filled minutes it seemed Sin had decided to retreat. Thats what many of the crew thought anyway, it looked more like it was changing targets than fleeing to Gray Fox. In no time at all the crew's victory screams were cut short as the captain yelled.

"It's headed straight for Killika!" he shouted in despair.

All they could do was watch as Sin tore the helpless town to pieces. They saw splinters of wod and bodies fly into the air in all directions. The devistation was massive, the only buildings left standing were in shambles. Sin turned and started off towards the open sea.

After spending the rest of the day helping to rebuild Killika, they made thier way to the temple. The cloister of trials wasn't difficult and they finished it quickly. While they were waiting for Yuna to obtain the aeon Fox decided this was the best time to ask some questions.

"Wakka, why does Sin always return after the final summoning?" Fox asked him. Wakka seemed like he knew the most about Yevon and Sin because he wouldn't stop talking about them.

"Sin always comes back because we have not atoned for our sins. One day, when our sins have been forgivin,  
Sin will be gone for good. It's all up to us, ya. We must not forget our sins, and we must not use machina"  
Wakka answered. It was not the answer Fox had expected.

Fox had assumed he was going to get a logical response. Instead he got a superstitious rant about not sining.  
Fox made a mental note not to challenge the religion to much where ever they went. It was obviously very important to these people.

"What was the purpose of the sending? You never explained it to me." Fox asked them.

"The sending is meant to guide the spirits of the dead to the Farplane, otherwise they'll become fiends." Lulu told him.

"Farplane? Do you mean the afterlife?" Fox questioned her.

"Yes. The Farplane is where all those who have been sent go. If some one you know has died and been sent,  
you can see them at the Farplane." Lulu answered.

"You can speak with the dead!?" Foz said taken by suprise. He had not expected this.

"Well, you can talk to them, ya. But they can't talk back." Wakka said.

"Just spirits. No voices." Kimahri added. It was the first time Fox had heard the ronso say more than one word at a time.

Fox thought this over. This world was truly different from the one he knew. Sin, the Farplane, fiends, Yevon.  
This was world ruled by magic and religion. The Farplane, he wanted to know more about it.

"Where is the Farplane?" he asked Wakka.

"Its in Guadosalam. We'll pass right through there on the way to Zanarkand." Lulu told him.

Fox wasn't sure if he wanted to visit this Farplane or not. He didn't know if he was ready to see the dead.

"What about Yevon." Fox said, changing the subject. "How large of a religion is it?"

"Its the only religion, ya." Wakka said. Again, Fox did not see this coming.

"You mean to tell me that everyone in Spira are Yevonites?" Fox asked him.

"Well not everyone. The Al bhed don't, but they're all heathens that use machina, those scum." Wakka answered. Fox decided he had enough answers for now. It seemed like every question he asked raised a dozen more.

They waited in silence for Yuna to come out. After what seemed like hours on end, she finally returned.  
Yuna looked exausted and they all decided they should take a days rest before heading to Luca. Fox found a cozy spot outside of town and got settled in.

He kept going over things in his head, trying to figure it all out. He knew the final summoning was hopeless,  
if it hadn't killed Sin for good by now then it probably never would. There must be some other way.  
He thought about what the statues had said. Fox replayed what thier words again in his head.

"Fear the beast with two faces." They told him

"We are the strands of fate, and we have choosen you." they had said.

"You are the hunter. You will be givin our power in your fight against this threat." he remembered them saying.  
He decided he would test these powers, he would need to know how strong he really was before he could figure out the best COA.

Fox waited until he was sure every one was asleep and crept into the woods. Once he was well away from the town he found a small clearing and stepped into it. He didn't know what type of powers he may have so he first tested his physical abilities. He ran, jumped, dived, rolled, and did any other type of manuver you could think of before he was satisfied.

He found he was a little more agile now than he had been in his exoskeleton. He could jump farther and move faster,  
he estimated about a 20 increase. Next he tried his strength, he walked to the thickest tree he could find and punched it as hard as he could. He expected pain in his hand, but instead he felt the tree give way. He looked and saw that he had punched a clean hole through it. He guessed about a 30 strength improvement over his exoskeleton.

When he felt he had probed all his physical powers, he wondered what other powers he might have. Could the statues have givin him magic as well? He had no idea how magic was done, but he had seen Lulu perform it several times and he thought he had the basic idea of it.

Lulu would always concentrate very hard before she did a spell. Fox thought that if he wanted to do a fire spell, he would probably have to focus on fire in his hand. Only fire in his hand, nothing else. He put this to the test and focused on fire.

Nothing happened, he was just standing there looking foolish. He tried again and again, imagining fire in as many different ways as he could think of. Just when he was ready to call it quits, some one spoke.

"Magic of that kind is not our power." said the voice. Fox drew his sword and searched for the speaker. How could he have not detected some one? He turned around and had his answer. Behind him a large statue had appeared, the same stone statue from that room.

"We gave you magic more powerful than that childs spell." spoke the statue.

"How do i use it?" Fox asked.

"Reach into yourself and you will find it." the statue told him.

Fox closed his eyes. He did feel something, something powerful. He found it everywhere in his body, and he focused it into his right hand. He opened his eyes and saw a swirling black ball of energy in his hand.

"What is this?" he asked the statue.

"That is our power, and its name is Lucavi. It lives as you live, and it will become a part of you as you master it. Be careful, Lucavi is quite fond of devouring the weak." spoke the statue.

Fox looked away from the pulsating black orb in his hand and saw that the statue was gone. They had indeed givin him power, he could feel the raw strength coming from the orb. He could feel it trying to exert its will on him. It begged him to use more, to let it take over. Fox would not allow it to. He would master his new power, he would force it to submit to him.

Fox knew this would be no easy task, the orb had power and it would not let itself be ruled easily. He wondered if he should tell every one about this? Should he tell them about him? They had proven themselves to be trustworthy.  
Something inside him said no. The time was not right, not yet.

Deep in the woods of Killika, Gray Fox began a new kind of training.  
------------------------------End of part three

If you have played every final fantasy game you'll recognize lucavi.


	4. Blitzball

I don't own the MGS characters or the final fantasy ones either.

-  
Part four: Blitzball

They had reached Luca a day later with no further trouble. Upon thier arrival Fox had witnessed first hand just how important blitzball was to these people. It was thier only sport and the only way for them to take thier minds off of Sin.

Tidus had decided they should all go and have a drink at the bar as a pregame celebration. Fox had opted not to join them, alcohol takes your edge away. Yuna had also decided not to go because she simply didn't drink. While the others were busy getting plastered, Yuna and Fox took a walk around Luca.

"Fox, you don't like to talk about yourself do you?" Yuna asked him after a few minutes of silence.

"A soldier has little use for words. I was raised in a very different world than this." he told her. He knew she would ask more questions. There was something odd about Yuna, the others might not have noticed it but Fox certainly had.  
She acted cheery and upbeat but he saw through it.

"Could you tell me about your world? None of us know anything about it." She asked.

"There were parts of my world that were good, but i never saw them. We don't have Sin but we have something far worse." Fox said.

"What could be worse than Sin?" Yuna exclaimed.

"War." Fox said simply.

"We used to have wars. When Sin came everything changed. Zanarkand and Bevelle were in the middle of a machina war a thousand years ago. Thats what caused Sin to appear." Yuna told him.

"Wars never stopped in my world. The superpowers talked of peace and disarmorment to quell the masses, all the while they fought and schemed to gain power over each other." Fox said in disgust.

"The superpowers?" she asked.

"The strongest nations. All they cared about was thier own power. They made decisions that cost thousands of lives without blinking." Fox said. He was growing tired of this conversation.

"They sound like horrible people! How could they be allowed to d-" she started before he raised his hand to silence her. They were not alone. Fox thought there was about ten of them, maybe more. He drew his sword and backed Yuna up to the dock. He wouldn't be able to stop them all if they rushed her.

"Yuna, summon Valefor and get out of here." Fox told her. Why hadn't they attacked yet? They must not be pros.

"Why? Whats wrong?" she asked, looking around. Just then five people came charging at them from out of nowhere.  
They were joined by five large machina's, each one had blades for arms.

"Do it! Now!" Fox ordered as he threw himself into combat. He charged and easily removed one of thier heads. He was right, they were not very skilled. They shrieked in horror at the sight of thier now headless friend. Fox used this and sliced anothers torso in half before spining and stabbing a third in the gut. He removed the sword and put it through the mans head to end him.

The remaining two started running and commanded the machinas to deal with him. They were much better fighters,  
thier AI made them work as a team. Fox quickly checked and made sure Yuna was safe, he saw her flying on Valefor in the distance.

The first machina lunged at him and after a quick sidestep he cut one of its mechanical arms off. Two more machinas now charged him while a third positioned itself behind him. He leapt into the air and aimed a kick at one of the two in front of him. It fell over as he twisted in the air and sliced the other ones mechanical head off. He was not fast enough to dodge the one behind him and if not for a quick movement on his part its blade would have gone through his face. He sliced the thing in two as he removed its blade from his shoulder.

He turned around and saw that four of them were still functional. Apparently they didn't need heads as thier CPU's seemed to be somewhere on thier torsos. That explained why the one he bisected was not getting up. This time all four charged him with thier blades ready to strike. He ducked the first blade and the rolled out of the path of another. Fox brought his sword up through one of them and cut it in half up the middle. This attack had cost him however, as it gave one of the machinas enough time to land another blow.

This time its blade got him in the gut and caused much more damage. He returned its stab with one of his own and pierced its CPU. Fox jumped back and watched it jerk around sporadically before falling to the ground disabled.  
The two that were left prepared for another charge as Fox stood his ground. His stomach wound was bleeding more than he had expected and his vision was already starting to blur. He didn't know if he could survive another charge.

They ran at him once more as his reflexes slowed from blood loss. The first one to reach him brought its blade down in an attempt to cut his head in half. He was able to avoid lossing his head but he was slower than he thought and could not evade it entirely. It still connected and cut him deep down his face. Fox slahed the machina to bits with his sword. Blood from the cut on his face had gotten into his left eye and rendered it useless, and as a result he didn't see the machina with with only one blade approach from his left. It smashed into him hard breaking his arm and several ribs. It pinned him to the ground and knocked his sword out of his hand. Then it brought its blade back in preparation of its final strike and Fox fully expected to die.

Just before it could end his life a blitzball came out of nowhere and hit it in the face. It flew off of him and crashed several feet away. Before it could get up and defend itself from this new threat Kimahri was on top of it. The ronso decimated it with his lance and in seconds the machina was in pieces.

Fox looked up and saw Lulu, Wakka, Tidus, Kimahri, and Yuna gathered around him. He laid his head back and closed his eyes as he felt pain wash over him. Within seconds he had passed out.

Fox awoke the next day and was suprised to feel quite good. None of his bones were broken and his cuts were entirely gone, not even a scar. He was not used to magical healing and it made him feel a little odd, but he was healthy none the less.

He walked out of the room and down some stairs to look for the others. Lulu, Yuna, and Kimahri were waiting for him downstairs.

"Wheres Tidus and Wakka?" Fox asked.

"Thier at the blitzball game. They made it to the semi finals!" Yuna said excitedly.

"I was out that long?" Fox said as they headed towards the blitzball stadium.

"Yes, you've been asleep for some time." Lulu told him. They entered the stadium and took thier seats. Fox had never really been one for sports, he had seen too many battles. He scaned the crowd looking for potential threats instead,  
which reminded him.

"Yuna, did you find out why those people attacked you?" Fox asked her.

"Oh, yeah we did. Those were some goons the Luca Goers hired. They wanted to kidnap me and use me as leverage against the Aurochs." she answered.

How foolish, he had almost died in an attempt to protect her from something as ridiculous as that.

"Thank you for stopping them. You almost died to save me." she said quietly. He barely heard her over the sounds of the stadium.

"I am your guardian. Besides, i can't do what i was sent here to do alone." Fox said. But he had said too much, it still wasn't time for him to tell them about himself. Even though they had saved his life he didn't think they were ready to know about him yet.

"You were sent here to do? Sent by who?" she asked. He was spared having to tell her he wouldn't answer yet by the appearence of fiends. They were swarming the stadium and people were screaming. Fox drew his sword for the second time in Luca and began to fight.

He decapitated a smaller fiend and headed towards another. Kimahri beat him there however and impaled it through its chest. A fiend leapt at Kimahri from behind but Fox cut it out of the air before it could reach the ronso. Within seconds the fiends had surronded Fox and Kimahri, sensing resistance. The fiends came at the two warriors from all sides and it was choas. Fox stabbed one throught its chest and aimed a kick at another leaping towards his face. He put his sword through another one as it tried to bite his leg and while he pulled his sword out of its head another fiend jumped on his back. It was about to chomp on his neck before Lulu blasted it off him with a fire spell.

Kimahri chopped two fiends in half with a single swing of his spear. He grabbed another out of the air and crushed its neck with his bare hand. A slightly larger fiend took him to the gound and swiped the ronso's lance out of his hand. It flew and stuck into a wall a couple feet away. Kimahri grappled with the beast and eventually managed to break its arm. The ronso delivered the killing blow when he bit through the fiends neck with his powerful teeth. He threw the fiend into a smaller one and retrived his spear before launching himself back into the frey.

Yuna was hanging back and healing anyone who was hurt. This proved difficult for her because fiends kept chasing her around the stadium. Lulu was hitting anything stupid enough to come near her with spells powerful enough to blast them into the air. Wakka and Tidus had left the blitz sphere and were carving fiends to bits.

Eventualy a huge fiend appeared at the south entrance and started causing all kinds of mayham. Fox, Kimahri, and Wakka were all running towards it before it let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground dead. A man in a red outfit removed a rather large sword from it and began to literally hack fiends into shreads. Tidus seemed to know him as they spoke a few words before proceeding to kill more fiends.

Then a man appered in one of the top boxes of the stadium. There was something about him that Fox did not like, he looked cold and emotionless. He raised his arm and summond a huge aeon. It was shakled in chains and one of its eyes had a black glow to it. The beast began to annihilate every fiend in the stadium with ease. It blasted them into nothingness as it made painful screams and shrieks.

An hour later, after things had calmed down a bit, they all went to meet the man in red. Fox heard Tidus say his name was Auron and apparently he had been a guardian to Yunas father, who had killed Sin previously. They made thier way down to where he and Tidus were.

"Yuna. I would like to be your guardian, as i was to Braska." Auron said. Every body else was impressed, apparently this Auron was quite important. Fox gathered that having him as a guardian would be an honor for the rest of them. Fox didn't mind, the man was quite adept at killing large fiends and he had the look of a warrior.

Yuna accepted immediately and they all began to prepare for the trip across the Mi'ihen Highroad. Fox felt Auron and he were much alike. The man let off an aura of power and authority. Fox could tell the man would be of great help in thier batlles to come.

While they were gathering supplies Auron approched Fox and spoke.

"That an intersting sword you carry. I've never seen another like it." Auron commented.

"It's a sword not of this world. Me and it come from another place." Fox told him.

"So you are not from Spira." Auron guessed.

"Correct." Fox confirmed. Auron studied him for a moment and then walked away. Fox knew Auron had just sized him up.  
He wasn't particularly fond of being evaluated like that, but Fox had done the same to many people through out his life.

Once they had enough supplies they started on thier trip across the Highroad. Fox noticed that Tidus seemed a bit down ever since Auron had spoken with him the day before. Fox knew there was something Tidus and Auron weren't telling the rest of them. He was being kept in the dark on this but wasn't he keeping the rest of them in the dark about himself?  
He decided to leave it alone for the time being, Auron and Tidus would tell him when they were ready.

Fox found it much more difficult to continue his training with Lucavi now that Auron was with them. It was not as easy to slip away from the man as it was with the others. Fox had been making progress until Auron joined them. Often when Fox was training he would hear Auron and have to stop. Auron was good at hiding but Fox was better at detecting. Fox would turn and face the direction Auron was in and wait for the man to leave. He couldn't keep this up forever though, eventually Auron would just ask him what he was doing all those nights. Fox felt that Auron was not somebody he wanted to lie to. He would just have to wait and see how things played out.

--------------------------End of Part Four

This chapter and the next one have alot of action in them. Next chapter sould be up soon.  
Don't be afraid to post reveiws either. Any feedback i get will be helpful. If you wanna be brutal in the review go ahead, i can take it. 


	5. Assault on Sin

I dont own any of the mgs or final fantasy characters. 

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Part Five: Assault on Sin

After a few days on the Highroad Fox finally began to notice a change in the terrain. All they had seen for the past five days had been grassy canyons and the same worn out dirt path. The ground was becoming more rocky and hard as they grew nearer to the Mushroom Rock Road. He also noticed the fiends had been getting steadily stronger as well. They were no longer fighting weak creatures that could be brought down in a single blow.

Eventually they reached the end of the Highroad and came upon a a soldier guarding the entrance into the Mushroom Rock Road.

"He's a crusader, ya. Wonder what he's doin all the way out here?" Wakka said. Fox had been told about the Crusaders only a few days ago. Apparently they defended towns and cities from Sin. Fox thought they were a bit useless and from what he'd heard they really couldn't do anything to stop Sin.

"Can we get past sir?" Yuna asked.

"I'm sorry lady Yuna, but there is an important operation happening in the Mushroom Rock Road right now. For your own protection you'll have to wait here until its over." said the soldier.

"Can't we just go through? We'll be real quick, ya." Wakka said.

"I'm sorry but I can't." he replied.

"We don't have time for this. You are interupting a summoner's pilgrimage. Let us through." Auron told him.

"Look, i'm really sorry but i can't let anybody through. I have strict orders." he sounded sorry when he said it.

They decided it would be best to just wait it out. After a few hours however Fox had simply had enough. He looked at the others and saw they were all either asleep or out of sight. Fox decided to take this opportunity to use Lucavi. Fox approached the soldier and began to channel Lucavi to his hands.

"What are yo-" the soldier started before Fox acted. He used Lucavi to invade the man's head and overpower his will. For a few minutes they faced off in a silent battle of minds before Fox was victorious. He forced the man to open the gate and then walk back to the command center.

Fox was suprised at how hard it had been to take the man's mind away from him. Most of the difficulty was not in the act itself, but in controling Lucavi. He had fought hard to keep Lucavi from simply devouring the man. Fox decided he should not underestimate the creature that now lived inside him again. Its power had grown with his and he must be much more careful with it from now on.

Just then Auron rounded the corner and stopped. He looked at Gray Fox and then the open gate. Auron knew some thing was not right.

"Where'd the guard go?" asked Yuna as she scanned the area for him.

"Hey Fox, you must have seen where he went, ya?" Wakka asked. They had all woken up and were now interested in the missing guard. Fox tried to think up a lie to tell them but Auron spoke before he could.

"The guard got called to the command post. Something urgent." Auron said. Fox gazed at him as he walked through the gate. Why had Auron covered for him?

"Lets get moving, we've got a long way to Zanarkand." Auron said as they all tried to catch up to him. Fox was perplexed by the mans actions. He was sure Auron had seen him.

They didn't have to travel far before they saw just how big this operation was. The entire beach was lined with soldiers and cannons. Whatever they were planning it was huge. A few seconds later a crusader appeared and asked them how they had gotten in. After a few quick words the crusader decided to take them to the command post as it would be safe there.

Once they had reached the command post Fox saw the real plan. He couldn't see the huge machina before because there had been a cliff in the way. Now that he was at the higher elevation of the command post however, the machina was in plain sight. The cannons and soldiers must be for the sinspawn.

Fox paid no attention to the others until he saw the man from the blitzball game arrive. After a quick question to a soldier Fox learned his name was Seymour and that he was a maester of Yevon. This did not sit well with Fox, Seymour had a sinister air to him. If he was a maester he had great power and that made Fox uneasy.

"And whos the last colorful guardian?" Seymour said as Fox approached.

"Thats Grey Fox. He looks odd but hes a swordsman to rival Sir Auron." Yuna said. There was just a hint of red in her cheeks. Fox guessed that she might have a crush on the maester, yet another problem.

"Quite the band of warriors you have Lady Yuna. Im sure you'll have Sin defeated in no time at all." Seymour said. Just then one of the sinspawn broke out of its cage. It was a huge beast that had two heads and an excess of power.  
It began to carve the feeble crusaders to bits. The others rushed at it and attacked it head on while Seymour joined them. Fox's attention was elsewhere however, he had noticed a disturbance in the water quite a ways off. His vision was better than the others and he knew Sin was coming.

"SIN!!" Fox yelled as he leapt off the ridge the command center was located on. He positioned himself at the front of the beach ready to lead them into battle. After a few moments Sin surfaced and began launching sinspawn all over hell and back.  
The sinspawn came flying at them from 360 degrees as cannons went off and soldiers charged. Fox felt the rush of battle as he hacked one into a gory mess.

Fox pushed an unsuspecting crusader out of a sinspawns projectile and saved him from certain death. Fox jumped and sliced a sinspawn out of the sky and kicked its carcass into another. Just then a cannon shell exploded when it hit a sinspawn inches away from him. Fox was sent sprawling to the sand and recovered as quickly as possible. He looked around and saw just how much damage the sinspawn were causing. The crusaders were getting in some kills but the sheer number of the sinspawn was overwhelming.

Fox launched himself back into the carnage and resumed his vicious rampage. He cut down one after the other, sinspawn after sinspawn fell before him. He cut a sinspawns arm off as it tried to claw him and kept going with enough force to slice through anothers skull. A sinspawn charged him as it tossed a mangled body into the bloody waters. Fox put his sword through its head as he dashed towards another target.

The battle raged all around him as blood and bone stained the sand. It reminded him of all those wars long ago and it made him feel at home. Fox saw as chocobo riders were taken down by sinspawns and as soldiers fought off death as long as they could. Bits of flesh and blood spilled over him as he gutted a rather large sinspawn. Fox blocked a projectile that would have found a crusaders head and countered with a fatal lunge of his own.

He turned around and watched as the crusader he had just saved was swarmed by dozens of tiny sinspawn and eaten alive. Fox cut his way across the beach and tried to save as many as he could but he knew it was hopeless. He turned and watched as the gigantic Al Bhed machina was finally fired up. It began to howl as a powerful energy beam was released from it. The beam collided with Sin's shield and it looked as if it might break through. That was until Sin released an attack of its own and brought the entire machina down along with the poor souls trapped inside it.

Sin looked down at the battle and opened its mouth as if to taunt them. It was not words that came out however, it was a huge wall of energy that came rushing towards the beach at incredible speed. Fox had just enough time to call Lucavi to him and make a shield of his own before it hit. He felt pain rush over him so fast it was crazy but it left as quickly as it had come before his vision faded to white.

Some time later Fox awoke on the beach feeling quite painfull. He was sore and bleeding as he checked out the level of devistation Sin had left in its wake. For the most part the wave of energy had seemed to dematerialize the bodies entirly.  
Every few feet however you could still see the bloody remains of men and beasts.

Fox picked himself up and realized Lucavi had not shielded him as well as he had hoped. Half of his left hand was simply gone.  
He stumbled through the sand in the direction he thought the command post was. He held onto his bleeding stump of a left hand as he realized he would have to stop the bleeding soon before he passed out. He didn't know any magic so instead he searched a few bodies until he found a healing potion. He drank it and felt his arm mending as the blood vessels sealed themselves. Although he didn't feel his hand regrowing it didn't worry him, he thought Yuna would be able to heal it easily.

When he had finally reached the command post he saw that the wave had not made it this far. He was still low on blood so he began to look for Yuna. He thought he saw Seymour leaving but he couldn't tell as his vision was blurring. He tried to walk but only made it a few more steps before he collapsed. Fox saw as Yuna and the others stood over him and suddenly his strength returned to him.

He stood up and checked his injuries. He was right not to worry about his hand, Yuna had healed it fully. It was only once he looked down upon the beach that he saw just how much damage Sin had caused. The bodies streached along the beach for nearly a mile.

"Where were you? We lost track of you just before Sin arrived. We thought you were on the beach." Yuna said sounding worried.

"I was on the beach." Fox said.

"What!? How did you survive that?" Lulu asked him. He noticed that Auron was listening intently.

"Why where you even down there in the first place, ya? That was crazy." Wakka told him.

"Whats crazy is putting all those men down there to die. They needed someone to lead them into battle." Fox said. He watched as the injured began to arrive. Some had only minor scratches and bruises while others were missing limbs. He could hear soldiers calling out to the bodies for survivors. He could see the looks on the dying wounded's faces. It was just like all those wars and battles from his past.

They helped the crusaders the rest of the day. Yuna saved as many as she could with her white magic but most were too heavily injured. Wakka and Lulu joined the others along the beach and searched for any who might have made it. Kimahri,  
Auron, and Tidus gathered supplies from the dead. Fox was givin the task of stacking body parts. Three other people had tried it before him but they were all too busy puking thier guts out now.

Fox had made a pile roughly ten feet tall before he decided to start another. He picked up an arm and saw Auron walking towards him. He didn't think Auron was goin to question him too hard, not here.

"Fox how did you survive that attack?" Auron asked as he began to stack body parts alongside Fox.

"Auron, i'm sure you have plenty of questions for me. I certainly have some for you, but we both know now is not the time.  
A field of decomposing bodies is no place for this." Fox told him.

"A good point. Shall we meet at a later time and different location then?" Auron suggested. Fox knew all along that Auron was going to do this eventually.

"Fine but we do it much later and out of sight. Nothing i tell you can be spoken to the others. I'll tell them when they're ready. Agreed?" Fox said.

"Agreed. We'll meet on this beach after the others fall asleep." Auron said as he tossed a dismembered leg onto the pile. Fox watched Auron leave and wondered what secrets the man had. Fox felt Auron knew much more than he was telling so far. He put it to the back of his mind for now as he tossed more pieces of flesh onto the pile.

Later that night, Fox waited a little ways down the road for Auron to show up. After a few minutes Fox spotted Auron coming down the road and joined him. He followed Auron for a minute or two before the man picked a comfortable spot and sat down.

"So, i'll start by asking you your name. Whats your real name Grey Fox?" Auron inquired.

"It's Frank." Fox told him. He would let Auron ask the questions first.

"Well then Frank. I know your hiding something from the rest of us. Why do you sneak off at night Frank? How did you get that crusader to abandon his post? And most of all, how did you survive Sins attack?" Auron asked him.

"Those questions all have the same answer Auron. Lucavi." Fox said.

"Lucavi?" Auron said confused.

"Its a power i have not yet revealed to the rest of them. I was givin it by those who sent me here." Fox explained. Over the next ten minutes or so Fox told Auron about the room with the statues. He told Auron that he had died in his world and they had granted him new life in this one.

"But what is Lucavi then? Why not show the others?" Auron asked.

"Lucavi is not like magic Auron. It is a being in itself. If i use it too much before i learn to control it, it will devour me." Fox told him.

"I see. Have you learned to control it yet?" Auron asked.

"Not fully. I have mastered some of the more basic uses but there are countless more. Eventually it will accept me as its ruler and bend to my will." Fox told him.

"Lets get to you now Auron. There are some things i would like to ask you as well." Fox said. It was time for some answers.

"Ask away." replied Auron.

"You know something, something you saw fit to share with Tidus back in Luca. I want to know what it was." stated Fox.

"Very well. You have heard of the boy Tidus's father Jecht yes?" he asked.

"I know of him. He was Braska's guardian and a good blitzball player. What about him?" wondered Fox.

"He's Sin." said Auron quite bluntly.

"How is that possible?" Fox said suprised. How could that thing have been human once?

"Does it matter how? Just know that he is Sin." Auron said.

"Don't play with me Auron. How is Jecht Sin?" Fox asked threateningly.

"Are you really sure you want to know?" Auron asked. Fox was growing tired of this.

"I'm not going to ask you again Auron. How is Jecht Sin?" Fox stated. Auron gave him a questioning look before he started.  
Auron told Fox about the pilgrimage he had went on with Braska. Auron told him about the trials they faced and how when they had finally reached Zanarkank they had discovered it was all pointless. Auron confirmed what Fox had already suspected about the final summoning. It could never kill Sin for good.

"Then why become Yuna's guardian? You must have some sort of plan." said Fox.

"I have no master plans or grand scheme. I just have a promise i need to fufill." Auron told him.

"A promise to a fellow warrior, I understand." Fox said quitely. His respect for Auron had just gone up. Fox looked at the man sitting across from him in a new light after that.

Fox watched Auron walk back towards the others as he prepared to train with Lucavi. Auron was a true warrior the same as Fox was. Fox felt Auron had not revealed everything to him but it did not upset him. Fox had told Auron nothing about his past and Fox decided he would not try to discover Auron's final secret. He would wait until Auron was ready to tell him.

Fox closed his eyes and prepared to take himself deep into his own mind. A battle with a demon awaits him there. Fox focused as he felt the world around him slide away and when he opened his eyes again he was surrounded by darkness.

"You will not become my master." Lucavi said.

"We'll see about that." Fox told the demon.

"I have been alive longer than you could fathom. Can you hear them?" Lucavi said as it raised it hand. A swirling pool of darkness formed around him. Fox could hear countless screams of pain and death escaping from the darkness.

"That is what you will be. All of them believed they could master me. Your soul will swim forever in my sea of forsaken torture." Lucavi taunted.

"Do you try to scare me for your own amusement? I wonder, is it because you fear me? Either way it all ends the same. Prepare yourself demon, you time draws to a close." Fox said as he drew his sword.

"HAHAHAHA! Then let ours be a glorious battle! I'll feast on your soul, NOW DIE!!!" the demon screamed as it pounded its chest in fury. The two charged each other as the darkness closed in.

------------------------------------end of part five.

So...thats how Fox trains with Lucavi. This took longer than i expected but it came out good.

P.S. Don't be afraid to review.


	6. The Final Guardian

Man, its been awhile since i wrote a chapter. Been busy with all kinds of stuff, i got two other stories i've been doing as well so thats why this one took so long. Sorry, i'll try to pump out a couple of chapters on this fic in the next few days to make up for it.

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Part Six: The final Guardian

After they had obtained the Aeon from Djose Temple they set out for the Moonflow. The fiends were giving them less trouble and they were making good time. After only a few days they were nearing the crossing point. Fox had been told that people crossed the Moonflow on huge elephant like creatures called shoopufs. Ever since Fox had heard about them he had been overcome with a childish need to see one. They sounded like something out of a fairy tale or bed time story.

Auron had told them about how Jecht had attacked one while he was drunk on his previous pilgrimage. It was a pretty amusing story, but Fox noticed a layer of sadness to Auron's words. Fox thought Auron missed Jecht and Braska more than he was letting on.

When they finally reached the crossing place Fox laid his eyes on a shoopuf and he couldn't help but smile. It reminded him of a huge dog. When Fox was done observing the creature he entered a small building to join the others. Fox saw thier faces and knew something was wrong.

"What happened?" Fox asked as he put his hand on his sword. Yuna saw this and spoke immediatly.

"Oh, nothing dangerous. Somebody just told us to be careful again. They said that summoners were vanishing again." She told him. He took his hand off the sword and noticed a look of relief on her face.

"Thats three times now. Who do you think is abducting the summoners?" Lulu asked.

"Probably those worthless Al bhed. Those heatens think they can do whatever they want to, ya!" Wakka said in disgust. Fox was beggining to get sick of Wakka's constant complaining about the Al bhed.

"It doesn't matter who it is, all you should concern yourself with is protecting your summoner." Auron told him. A few minutes later they were on the shoopuf making thier way to the other side of the Moonflow. While the others talked about nukes and machina cities and things Fox was taking in the view.

This world was not like his, the air was so much cleaner. There hadn't been a machine in a thousand years and it made the air smell...different. The Moonflow was a truly spectacular sight, vast and beautiful with pyreflies rising out of it. Fox saw why the hypellos liked to live here.

It was right then that Fox smelled it, oil. He was only able to detect it because he hadn't yet this entire trip. It just stood out in this world. He got to his feet and scanned the horizion only to see nothing.

"Fox? Whats wrong?" Yuna asked. Just as the last word escaped her mouth a huge mechanical tentacle snatched her from the shoopuf. It took a minute for the others to register what had happened, but by then Fox was already in the water.  
The machina was huge and Fox knew it wouldn't be easy to take the thing down.

Before long Wakka and Tidus had joined him as they were the only other ones able to fight competently underwater. They surrounded the machina as it lashed its tentacles out at them viciously. Fox dodged one of them while he brought his sword down on it. The tentacle was severed quite easily as Fox evaded another one.

Wakka made a mad dash towards the things middle section while Fox took this chance to weave his way to a hatch on the machina. He stuck his sword into it and began to slash away at it. He heard a scream from inside, a young womans scream. He wasn't expecting that. He summoned Lucavi to increase his strength and ripped the rest of the hatch off. he pulled the girl from the machina and dragged her to the surface.

He reatched the shore and tossed the girl into a tree. He put his sword to her chest and looked her in the eye. She was terrified.

"Who are you!" Fox screamed at the shaking girl..

"i'm R-rikku!" She stammered in fear.

"Well Rikku, why were you after summoners?" Fox asked as he towered over her. She was about to respond when Fox heard Tidus's voice.

"Rikku? What are you doing here?" Tidus asked confused.

"You two know each other?" Fox asked.

"Uh, yeah. She was with the Al bheds that found me when i first came to Spira." Tidus said. The others were catching up as Fox asked his next question.

"You never answered me Rikku, why are you after summoners?" Fox said as he brought his blade to her throat. He wanted an answer before the others could intervine. Again she was only seconds away from responding when Yuna cut her off.

"Whats going on? Who is that?" Yuna said as the rest of the team arrived.

"This was the person in the machina." Fox said as he turned to ask again before he was stopped a third time.

"R-Rikku? is that you?" Yuna asked as she walked closer. "It is!"

"Yuna, can i talk to you alone for a minute?" Rikku asked as she eyed Fox fearfully.

"Um, i suppose so." Yuna said as she and Rikku walked a few feet away and talked. Fox put his sword away and leaned against a tree.  
There was some thing wrong here, this Rikku girl would not have gone through all this trouble to catch summoners for no reason.

Yuna and Rikku walked back to the others after a mintue and Yuna shocked them all.

"I want Rikku to be my guardian." Yuna told them. They all looked at each other wondering the same thing. Rikku was pretty frail looking and Fox didn't think she would be too helpful in a fight. Auron made his way to Rikku and looked her over.

"If that is what you want Yuna." he said as he continued down the road to Guadosalam. The others looked like they might protest until Auron spoke again.

"Lets get moving, we're nearly there." he called to them from down the road. They followed suit and were once again heading towards Guadosalam.

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When he reached the Guado town, Gray Fox was repulsed by it. He wasn't sure why exactly, he just knew that bad things would happen here. It was a gloomy place and it seemed dark to him. It reminded him of the room he trains in with Lucavi, it had the same feel to it. The first thing they did was check into an inn and get some well needed rest.

The next day they were greeted by a Guado named Tromell as soon as they left the inn. The Guado told them that Seymour wanted an audience with them later. The Guado seemed important enough but Fox knew he was little more than a servant. While everyone else was talking about Seymour and his invitation Gray Fox's mind was else where.

He was thinking about the Farplane. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to go there after all. He didn't know if he was ready to face the dead. He was pondring this all day when he was tapped on the shoulder.

"What?" he said, a little angry that someone had disturbed his thinking. He saw that it was Rikku and noticed that she was still very afraid of him.

"I just wanted to introduce myself properly. Yuna told me all about you and i wanted to make sure we got off on the right foot." she said not meeting his eye.

"Sorry about putting the sword to your throat Rikku. I thought you were my enemy." Fox replied.

"It's okay, i did attack you after all. So do you ever lighten up or are you just like Auron?" she asked cheerily. She had become much less timid now and was practically bouncing around for the next hour or so while she bombarded him with questions. Eventually Fox got tired of it and asked the group something.

"Can we just go to Farplane?" Fox asked. He still wasn't sure if he was ready for it but he was sure of one thing. He was sick of Rikku's endless wave of questions.

"Ah, whats the matter Fox? I thought you and Rikku were having fun, ya." Wakka snickered. Fox gave him a death glare and he went pale.

"Fox is right, we should go. Cmon every one, lets get going." Yuna said as she made her way down a path. Within minutes thay had reached the stairs the lead to it. The group started up them but Fox noticed Auron and Rikku didn't follow.

"Auron, Rikku? Why'd you stop?" Fox asked.

"I'm not ready for the Farplane yet." said Auron as he sat down.

"I think memories should stay memories." Rikku said as she sat down as well. Fox shrugged and followed the others. He was simply amazed at what he saw.

They were standing on a small piece of rock overlooking a magnificent sight. Massive waterfalls and lush greenery were below, Fox saw how people could think of this place as the after life.

He heard Yuna say that you just have to think about someone in order for them to appear. He was fairly sure no one he knew would come because they hadn't died in Spira but he tried all the same. He closed his eyes and envisioned him. When he opened his eyes he was taken by suprise. Standing before him in midair was a transparent Big Boss.

"Is it really you?" Fox asked as he stared in shock. Fox knew these apparitions couldn't speak back but he had asked the question none the less. Big Boss's ghost smiled at him.

"Been a long time, Null." Big Boss replied. Fox stared at the ghost speechless.

"Don't think i've forgotten how you failed me. If you had been able to kill Snake then Outer Heaven could have become a reality! How could you have been so weak!" Big Boss taunted as Fox felt his guilt rip at him inside.

"No, it wasn't my fault!" Fox said loudly as he fell to his knees, memories washing over him.

"Don't try to pawn off the blame soldier! You were too weak to protect me and now look where we are. One of us dead and the other talking to a ghost." Big Boss said as he faded away. Fox looked up and saw too different ghosts now, the last two people he ever wanted to see again.

"Monster!" cried one of the ghosts.

"What have you done with our little girl?" sobbed the female ghost. Fox looked at Naomi's parents and lost control. He began shaking uncontrolably and fell flat on his face. He could hear evil laughter as his vision blacked out.

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Fox woke up and looked around. He was back in the room of statues.

"Hunter, we have called you hear to deliver a warning. The beast you are ment to kill is mustering its strength to stop you." spoke the statues.

"What do you mean?" Fox asked.

"In the Farplane you felt it's madness. It has summoned a vessel to kill you. It is a shadow of great power. The shadow has broken through the barriers and it is coming for you. Do not let your guard down, even though it is a mere shadow its power is great." spoke the statues.

"It's sending sinspawns after me?" Fox asked the statues.

"No. This shadow is nearly as old as the beast. It is the beast's most powerful servant. It is devoid of a soul and lives only to serve its master." Spoke the statues. Fox was about to ask another question when he woke up again, this time in a bed. He looked around and saw the others standing over him.

"Wake up sleepy head." said Rikku. Fox saw that even she did not have a smile on her face.

"How long was i out?" Fox asked as he sat up.

"A couple hours. We already went to Seymour's little dinner party. You'll never guess what happened there." Tidus told him. Fox noticed that Tidus had a small amount of anger in his voice.

"What happened now?" Fox said as he stood up.

"Before we tell you we have to talk about what happened at the Farplane." said Lulu.

"What do you mean?" Asked Fox stupidly.

"The pyreflies talked to you. We heard them, but that dosen't make any sense. Your not from Spira so they shouldn't have even been in the Farplane." Yuna said.

"I know why they were there. Sin did it to toy with me." Fox said. The others looked at him suspiciously.

"How can you be sure?" Auron asked.

"I was told so." Fox said simply.

"Your not telling us something." Auron guessed.

"True, but you still have some secrets of you own don't you Auron? I'll keep mine as long as you keep yours, but nevermind about that.  
What happened with Seymour?" Fox asked.

"The guado maester has asked Yuna to marry him." Auron said. Fox knew immediatly that something was out of order here.

"I'm going to pay our guado friend a little visit." Fox said as he made for the door.

"Wh-wait! What are you going to do?" Yuna asked.

"I'm going to find out whats going on here. Theres something wrong about Seymour and i'm going to discover what it is." Fox said.

"No, don't do that! You sound like your gonna do something violent." Yuna said.

"I'll do what i have to." Fox said.

"You realize you won't be able to continue with us if you do this? All of Yevon will be against you." Auron said.

"You'll be seeing me again soon enough i'm sure. I'll catch up to you guys after i get to the bottom of this." Fox said as he walked out onto the streets of Guadosalam. He didn't know why he was so sure Seymour was worth all of the inevitable hell he would have to pay for this, he just knew this was what he had to do.

He walked through the city and felt the guado's eyes on him so he went to the Farplane. He went far enough inside it to where they couldn't see him and kneeled. He summoned Lucavi's power and created a double of himself. He sent the puppet back out and had it walk around the town aimlessly to draw eyes off of the real him.

He got to his feet and again used Lucavi to make him invisible. He headed towards the maester's house and stood outside its doors. He felt magic coming from the door and walked a few feet to the right and was now in front of the house's outer wall. Fox touched the wall used Lucavi to pass through it.

He came out in a hallway and sensed his surroundings. He could feel Seymour's presense upstairs and he set off towards it. He made his way to the room and passed throught the door. He looked around and saw Seymour sitting down across the room. He walked silently until he was right behind the guado and put his hands on the maesters head.

He dug into Seymour's head and saw all the evil guados memories. He saw the young maester kill his own father. He saw Seymour's plan to become Sin, which led him to the what the final summoning meant. Fox left the guado's mind as he drew his sword, still invisible. Seymour stood up and looked around for the one who had invaded his mind.

As soon as he stood up however, a sword was thrust through his chest. He fell to the ground with a grunt as Fox removed his invisibilitiy.

"I won't allow scum like you to manipulate me or Yuna. Enjoy your Death." Fox said as he removed the maester's head with a slash of his sword. Seymour was able to get off a spell before his death however, as a loud crash from a thunder spell sent the door flying off its hinges. Fox cursed the dead guado, Seymour had cast the loudest spell he could in the hopes that the other guados would kill Fox while he tried to escape.

Fox dashed down the hallway until his path was blocked by dozens of guados. Fox lept down the stairs and ran into a large room that appeared to be a dead end. Fox cursed as he turned around and prepared to fight his way out. Guados started swarming into the room as Fox used Lucavi to decapitate several right off the bat. He then threw himself at the guados and began to chop and stab them.

He stabbed one guado through the chest as another swung its sword at him. He shot a dark spike of energy useing Lucavi from his free hand which made a hole in the guado a foot wide. He cut a guados arm off as he dodged a blade and put his sword through a downed guado's head. There were far too many of the however and he was being overwhelmed. He blocked as many as he could but eventually he caught a sword in his sholder.

He tried to pull back but the guado twisted the blade as Fox stabbed the guado in the face. A second later he felt another sword in his back, that pain was quickly forgotten as another sword was plunged into his right lung. He dropped to his knees defeated and looked up at the guados. He saw them draw back thier swords before he heard a voice in his head.

"WEAKLING!!!!!" shouted Lucavi as it sent a wave of crushing dark energy from his body. The wave pushed the guados back and broke many of thier ribs. The guados looked at him in shock as they saw a dark outline of transparent energy surround him. He went on a rampage and began to devestate the guado warriors..

The guados watched in horror as they saw Lucavi peel flesh from the bone. The beast let out an malevolent laugh as it tore one poor guado in half. Limbs and gore were sent flying in all directions as the few guados that could move were trying desperatly to escape. Lucavi created a darkness barrier and trapped them as he lashed out at a terrified guado and split his gut open. Lucavi finished off the few remaining guado by shooting darkness spikes up from the gound of the entire room.

Fox saw that Lucavi had healed his wounds as well. Why had the beast helped him of its own will? Fox would worry about this later however, as he heard more guados coming. He quickly used Lucavi to become insivible again and passed through the walls until he was outside. He mad his way for the thunder plains to plan his next move.

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It had only been a few hours but Fox had already made it through the Thunder Plains with ease. Lucavi was becoming more and more useful as he became more skilled with it. Fox was on the outskirts of the Macalania Woods when he decided it was time to conract the others. He focused Lucavi and located them, they were still at the Guadosalam inn which was good. They were all in the same room talking as Fox used Lucavi to contact them.

--------------------------------------------

Rikku was joining the others in a discussion about Grey Fox and Seymour.

"I can't believe he actually attaked the Maester." Yuna said.

"I don't like sayin this about a maester, but if Fox attacked him there must have been a good reason, ya." Wakka said darkly.

"Wakkas right, Fox must have discovered something very sinister for him to act as he did." Lulu said.

"either way we'll have to be careful now, the guados may give us trouble. We sho-" but Auron stopped when he saw a dark circle appear on the floor of the inn. Fox materialized in it, but it was not the Grey Fox they were used to. It was like his shadow as it was completely black with no features or eyes.

"Hello everyone." Fox said.

"What the heck!? Is that you Fox?" Rikku asked.

"Yes, i'm quite aways ahead of you guys and i thought it was time i let you know what happened." Fox told them.

"We know what happened, you attacked the maester and killed alot of guados. We saw what you did to them, it was...horrible," Yuna said.

"Let me explain. I mad my way into Seymour's room undetected. I discovered that he had killed his own father to become maester. He also had a very grim reason to wed you." Fox said. He decided Auron should know, as he was probably the only one who knew about the sacrifice the Final Summoning required. Fox used Lucavi to put the knowledge in the guardians mind.

"I decided Seymour was too dangerous to be left alive, so i killed him. Complications arose whe-" Fox said but he was cut off.

"Killed him? We saw him eariler today, hes not dead." Rikku said confused.

"Impossible, i cut off his head. Are you sure you saw him?" Fox asked.

"Yes, im 100 sure. It was the maester." Yuna told him. Fox had underestimated Seymour, the guado must have great power to survive the removal of his head.

"That complicates things. I'm making my way to Macalania lake now, i'll wait there for you. All of you will then head for the temple while i follow unseen. If you get into a fight you can't handle i'll join in but i hope i won't need to. The longer i can stay in the shadows for now the better." Fox explained.

"How long do you plan on staying out of sight?" asked Rikku. Fox hesitated before answering.

"I don't know. Something is coming after me, something powerful. Some sort of great shadow, it would be safer if i fought it in a secluded place." Fox told them.

"Something after you, something strong? Well then you should definatly stay with us! What if it kills you!?" Rikku protested.

"I get the feeling this thing is pretty big. It's only after me so if the rest of you are with me it puts you in unessecary danger." Fox said as his shadow faded away. Rikku looked at it angrily.

"How stubborn! He could get killed. He'd be much safer with us!" Rikku said as she stormed out of the inn.

---------------------------------------end of part six.

There ya go. Once again i apologize for taking so long. I just needed to get back in a ff x mood you know.

Any guesses at what the shadow monster could be? Ha, i can't tell you for a while cause it'll give away the ending but you might be able to figure it out. 


	7. Shadows and Dust

Okay, chapter seven comin at ya.

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Part Seven: Shadows and Dust

Fox was traversing the woods of Macalania wasting time. He sensed that the others still had along way to go through the Thunder Plains.  
He was over looking a lake when he felt its presense, it was a long way off but it was powerful. Fox sensed it was coming at an incredible speed so he took off into the woods. He was making his way towards a large clearing he had discovered earlier, it was the best place for an open battle with something this big.

After a few minutes he had reached the clearing and turned in the direction of the beast the he knew was the shadow. He waited for it while Lucavi spoke in his head.

"HA! THAT IS SOME BEAST ON ITS WAY! THIS IS GOING TO BE A GOOD BATTLE." Lucavi said in excitement. Fox was less optomistic, this shadow had such an overwhelming aura of power that Fox had considered just running for it. He knew that was not an option hhowever, as the beast was faster than he could ever dream of being.

Within a few minutes he heard the sound of trees getting trampled about a half mile away and readied himself. Thirty seconds later a huge beast came crashing into the clearing to face him. It was about twenty five feet tall and at least fifteen feet wide. It had strange symbols on its body. ОНЯКЕДМХИ НПСФХЕ it said, Fox had no idea what it said but he didn't think it really mattered anyway. The huge beast was ordorned with gold and covered top to bottom with meatal armor.

Its huge metal clad hands came down at Fox with amazing speed. Fox was barely able to dodge in time and the shockwave from the slam threw him into a nearby tree hard. Fox wondered if this is what Snake felt like every time he went up against a Metal Gear.  
Fox drew his sword and lunged at the beast. He tried to peirce its armor but it seemed impregnable. Everywhere his sword struck it bounced off leaving little more than a scratch.

The shadow beast did a sweep with its hands that Grey Fox barely evaded. Fox shot a Lucavi spike at it which bouced off without leaving a mark. The beast opened its mouth and Fox saw energy gathering in its jaws. Fox sensed this energy was incredibly powerful and he knew it would make one hell of an explosion. Fox thought quick and formed a plan.

He knew this beast was too strong for him, there was no way he was going to be able to stop it. He watched as the ball of energy in its mouth grew and grew until finally it came rocketing towards him. This is what Fox was waiting for, he made his strongest Lucavi Barrier and hoped it would be enough. The energy ball crashed into his shield and it was struggling in midair to break it. Fox focused and pushed the ball back a few inches.

Fox summoned all of Lucavi's strength to him and unleashed it on the energy ball, he prayed it would be enough. The massive amount of dark energy did exaclty Fox had planned. It sent the energy ball flying right back at the shadow beast. Fox saw a look of surprise on its face as the ball collided with its chest and exploded violently.

Fox had expended all his energy and could not cast another barrier. He dropped to his knees in exhaustion as he watched. The explosion was simply massive, almost like a mini nuke. Fox was too tired to even move so he just sat there as the force of the blast overtook him.  
The last thing he remembered was a huge wall of fire and smoke rushing at him.

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The others were nearing the inn at the Thunder Plains when they saw it. For off in the distance somewhere in the Macalania Woods they saw a huge explosion. A massive smoke cloud could be seen when they finally heard it.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

"What was that!?" Rikku said frightened. They were all scared, none of them had ever seen such a large explosion before.

"Was it Sin? It has to be, ya. Only Sin can do somethin like that." Wakka said.

"I'm not so sure." Auron replied.

"What else could it be?" Yuna asked.

"I don't think it's Sin, we'd have seen it by now. I think it's the thing that Fox said was after him. He said he was in the woods and thats where the explosion came from." Auron speculated.

"You mean Fox is fighting something that can do that? He'll never win, he's gonna die! Why couldn't he have just stayed with us?" Rikku said with both anger and sadness in her voice.

"Fox will live." Kimahri said.

"All we can do is wait and hope he contacts us again." Lulu said as they continued towards the inn. Rikku waited until the others had entered the inn and looked at the cloud of smoke that was still visible in the distance.

"Don't die Fox, i never even got to know you." Rikku said to herself. Just then she heard an earspliting howl come from the woods.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

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Fox came to a few minutes later. He looked around and saw the devestation the explosion had left. He was on the edge of a massive crater and least a hundred yards wide. He couldn't see through all the smoke and dust so he tried to get up so he could look around.  
Thats when he felt the pain, his body was racked with it. He had severe burns all over and several twigs and other debrie were lodged into his skin. Thats when he noticed the worst of it, his left leg now ended slightly above his knee. 

Fox was fairly sure he had killed the creature when his near deaf eardrums were nearly shattered for the second time in only a few minutes.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" howled the beast. Fox felt waves of anger coming from the beast. Fox used what little energy he had regained to make himself invisible. He watched as the dust was blown away to reveal the injured beast.

Fox saw the beast's armor was now scorched black. The monster was missing a large chunck of its right sholder and its corresponding arm hung limp. Overall Fox realized it had done very little damage to the shadow beast. He watched as it stalked away, thinking it was victorious.

Fox was stunned at how powerful the creature had been, and it was only a shadow! He wondered how in the hell he was suppose to kill something so unimaginably powerful as he crawled away in pain.

A few hours later Fox was nursing his wounds and wondering what to do about his now non existent leg when Lucavi spoke up.

"I CAN FIX THAT." Lucavi told him.

"How?" Fox questioned the dark force.

"SIMPLE. I'LL USE YOUR ARM TO FORGE A REPLACEMENT." Lucavi said.

"Thats idiotic, then i'm just going to be missing an arm. How would that help?" Fox said sarcastically.

"BECAUSE THEN I COULD GIVE YOU MY ARM." Lucavi said. Fox was hesitant to accept the demons offer.

"Why?" Fox asked the demon.

"I DON'T ENJOY BEING STUCK IN A BODY THAT CAN'T EVEN FIGHT. WHY DO YOU HESITATE? MY ARM WILL GIVE YOU GREAT POWER." Lucavi said. Fox was still unsure but he didn't really have any alternative.

"Fine, you have a deal demon." Fox agreed. Dark aura surrounded him as his leg was remade and his arm was replaced. His burns and cuts were healed as well. Fox looked at his new arm and was taken aback.

It was exactly the same as his old arm except for one major difference, it was pitch black. He flexed it and found that it had much more strength than his old one as well. THats when it happened, he felt Lucavi trying to force its demon will on him. After a few minutes of painful mental battle Fox was victorious.

"HMPH, EVEN WHEN INJURED YOU DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN." Lucavi said scornfully.

Fox picked himself up and continued on his way to Macalania Lake, which was fortunately in the opposite direction than the shadow beast had went.

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The others had arrived just around the time Fox expected they would. They came strolling to the frozen lake after a half day in the woods. After an unexpected attack from a machina and a large berserker beast Fox watched them enter the inn for some rest. He was glad they were able to repel the attacks on thier own as he wasn't sure if him battling would draw the shadow beast back.

He waited a few more hours for them to set off for the temple and he followed them, still invisible. He had scoped out the temple earlier and saw that it was swarming with guados. He had even seen Maester Seymour enter it only hours previously. Fox wondered about the guado maester as he followed the others who were now on snowmobiles.

Fox had not delved deep enough into the maesters mind to see how he could have had the power to recover from a severed head. Fox knew that Seymour was going to be a big porblem for them if he wasn't delt with eventually. He watched as the others entered the temple so Yuna could obtain another aeon. Fox wanted to follow them but he knew that they had a much higher chance of sucess without him. Fox waited eagerly for them to exit the temple and eventually they did, although it was not in the way he had expected. They came running out of it with several guados on thier tail. Fox, still invisible, jumped down to aid them only to be caught off guard when ground seemed to fall away.

Fox was the only one to land on his feet from such a long drop. The drop was far enough to break his leg, however Lucavi mended it within seconds. Fox looked around and saw that they had fallen into some sort of huge trench. After a minute of walking he found the others huddled around a fire in the cold.

"What happened in there?" Fox asked. Only Auron wasn't startled by Fox's sudden appearence.

"Fox! We didn't know if you were okay after that explosion." Rikku said gladly as she ran to hug him. Fox dodged to the side and watched as she fell to the ground after missing fox. Wakka and Yuna laughed thier heads off.

"You heard the explosion?" Fox asked. He didn't think it had been that big.

"Duh! Everyone with a thousand miles saw it. Are you okay though? How did you survive something like that?" Rikku asked as she got to her feet.

"It cost me my arm." Fox told them as he revealed his new limb to the group. They let out gasps as they saw the black skin.

"Whoa! What happened to your arm?" Tidus said shocked.

"My old arm is gone. Lets just say this one is a gift." Fox said as he looked at Auron, as only Auron knew what Fox meant.

"Did you fight that the thing that was after you? Did you defeat it?" Yuna asked.

"I tried to fight it but i wasn't even a threat to it. It charged a massive ball of energy up and fired it at me. I was able to deflect the energy ball back at it and then it exploded, which is what you saw." Fox explained.

"So you killed it, ya?" Wakka said happily.

"No. It was barely even injured at all. It left assuming it had killed me, it could come back anytime." Fox told them grimly.

"Its not dead? But that explosion was massive, it must be really powerful." Lulu said.

"It is, but enough about that. What happened in the temple? Why did the ground fall out?" Fox asked confused.

"We ran into Seymour in the temple. He demanded that Yuna marry him and when she refused we fought him. Apparently the aeon of Macalania is what kept the lake and surrounding area frozen year round. After Seymour's aeon beat Shiva it must have broke the aeons ice powers. So the ice started to disappear." Auron explained.

"Seymour, we need to kill him. Does anyone know how he could have survived my attack on him back in Guadosalam?" Fox asked.

"He's unsent." Replied Yuna quietly. Fox remembered what that meant from Kilika.

"Next time we see him perform the sending Yuna." Fox told her. He realized that Tidus wasn't wwith them and looked around for the kid. Fox spotted him sitting down by an underground lake. Fox noticed Tidus was singing the hymn of the faith.

"Tidus, get over here." Fox called. As soon as Tidus stopped singing Fox noticed something move in the lake, a split second later he knew what it was.

"Sin!" Fox shouted as the massive creature emerged from the water. It seemed to stare at them all for a minute before it opened it's mouth and a blinding white light enveloped them.

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Fox awoke in a very different place than Macalania. Instead of bitter cold it was scorchingly hot and dust blasted his face. He knew immediately that he was in a desert, he had seen plenty of them in Africa and knew this one was vast and unforgiving. He looked around and noticed a small chest.

He waded through the sand and opened it, inside was a couple of odd potions and some Al Bhed writing. Fox was glad he had taken the time to learn the Al Bhed language from the various Al Bhed's they had met. Of course by "learn" Fox meant forcefully extracted the knowledge but it was the same thing to Fox.

He read the paper and it said there was an oasis about a half mile ahead. Fox made the trek in no time at all and came upon Tidus who was passed out face first in the sand. Fox kicked Tidus hard enough for the kid to wake up and then spoke.

"Get up Tidus, we're in the middle of nowhere here." Fox said as he saw Auron coming over a nearby sand dune.

"Auron, where are the others?" Fox asked.

"They must be nearby, lets start searching for them." Auron said. Within a few minutes they had located Kimahri, Lulu, and Wakka. Just when they were about to start looking again Rikku came running over a sand dune shouting.

"There you guys are! I've been looking all over the place for ya! Hey, where's Yunie?" She asked.

"We don't know but shes probably close by." Fox replied.

"I bet i know where she is! She's probably at Home!" Rikku said happily.

"Home? What are you talking about?" Fox asked.

"Oh, thats rioght you don't know about it. It's where the Al Bheds live and it's very close by. C'mon everyone, follow me!" she exclaimed as she tore off in a seemingly random direction. After a few minutes of running Fox heard gunshots. Lucavi's power had given him increased hearing as well and it would be a few minutes before the others heard the gunshots. Sure enough, the next sand dune the reached the top of they saw smoke coming from a structure that Fox assumed was Home.

"Oh no! They're being attacked! We've got to help them!" Rikku cried as they ran towards Home. As soon as they reached the place Fox could see that the AL Bheds had been overwhelmed and outgunned. There were bodies all over the place and most of them were Al Bheds. Fox looked at Rikku and noticed she was horrorstruck. They didn't have time for that, they needed to find Yuna.

Fox walked over to Rikku, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

"Rikku! We need to find Yuna, where would she be?" Fox asked her.She didn't answer him, she just kept staring at the bodies.  
Thats when Fox felt the Shadow beast's presense again, it was coming for him a second time.

"Everyone get inside Home now!" Fox commanded as he dragged Rikku into the Al Bhed fortress. After he had closed the door he turned to the rest of them and spoke.

"Its that monster again, its coming for me. We need to find Yuna and get out of here now or we're all dead." Fox sadi as he again turned to Rikku. "Rikku, where is Yuna?" he asked her.

"F-follow me." she said with tears in her eyes. They followed her through a maze of submarine like hallways until they finally reached the place Rikku said Yuna would be. However, Yuna was not there, it was just That summoner Donna and another Summoner named Issaru.

"Where is Yuna?" Fox asked, the shadow beast would be here any second.

"They took her to Bevelle." Issaru said. Fox didn't stick around to listen to anything else.

"Rikku, how do we get out of here? We need move fast." Fox asked the young Al Bhed.

"Cid has an airship we might be able to use. Im sure it can out run this shadow beast, follow me." Rikku said. Just then there was a massive crash above them, the shadow beast was trying to get to them. They ran through more hallways as the crashing sounds got louder and louder. When they finally reached the airship Fox darted to the cockpit as fast as he could. 

"Take off, now!" Fox shouted as the Al Bheds turned around in suprise.

"Who the hell are you?" said an older man.

"Just take off or we're all gonna die! NOW!" Fox shouted just as Rikku and the others came busting into the cockpit as well.

"Take off! Now!" Yelled Rikku.

"You heard Rikku, take off!" the man Fox now realized was Cid said. Fox looked out the windows and saw the shadow beast's arm come crashing throught the roof of a nearby room.

"What the hell is that thing?" Cid said as they flew away from Home. The monster was half buried in the base from trying to smash it's way down to Fox.

"Hell with it, blow Home and take that thing out too!" Shouted Cid as a massive explosion erupted from Home. Fox was fairly sure after seeing the blast that the shadow beast was dead. The explosion was nothing short of nuclear after all. When they had gotten a good distance away from the desert Cid spoke.

"So Rikku, i take it these are your fellow guardians?" the old man said.

"Uh huh, pops we need to get to Bevelle. Thats where they took Yuna." Rikku told him.

"We know thats where she is Rikku. They just announced that shes going to be married to Seymour later today." Cid informed them.

"We can't let that happen Cid." Auron said.

"We gotta rescue her, ya!" Wakka chimed in.

"A rescue mission eh? Well lets get movin then!" Cid cried as the ship took off in the direction of Bevelle.

------------------------------------------------end of part seven

Bam! We're getting to the good stuff now. The next couple chapters leading up to Zanarkand are gonna start getting AU, but in a good way. Review, review, review! Thats all i have to say.

Thanks alot to eddy-popcorn for the review. I was thinking about discontinuing this story until i read them. Keep reviewing buddy and i'll keep writing. 


	8. A Maester's Demise

Chapter eight, whoooo! This one is pretty action oriented so dont expect too much dialoge.

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Part Eight: A Maester's Demise

Fox looked out the window silently as they approached Bevelle. He knew this would be a very difficult task as thier plan had virually no chance for victory. Fox had been trying to think of an alternate plan but to no avail. Every time one came to mind there was something that would make it nearly impossible. Fox was still pondering this as Bevelle came into sight. 

"Alright guys, its almost time. Now get ready to rescue my niece, we're goin in!" Cid said over the loudspeakers as he sped the airship up even more. Fox decided that he would just have to improvise and hope for the best as he made his way to the deck of the airship.

"Okay guys, this is it! 5..4...3.2.1, GO!" shouted Cid as they slid down the large ropes Cid had fired moments ago. Fox bent down to make his body more areodynamic as he broke ahead of the others. He reached the landing zone first and saw that they were quite aways off from where Seymour was.

It had happened so fast that the Bevelle guards were in utter disarray. Fox procedded to dispose of any who were unfortunate enough to be near him as the others arrived. As soon as they had all landed Fox charged towards the marraige sight, he knew time was of the essence.

After a few suspiciously easy minutes they had reached thier destination. Fox immediately knew they had run into a trap as soldiers and machina were suddenly at every turn. Fox weighed his options and made a decision. He leapt at the Maester and severed the guados arm.  
He grabbed Yuna and threw her at the others as he put a Lucavi shield around them.

"Go! Get to the temple and obtain the aeon! i'll deal with these fools and meet up with you later." Fox said as he dodged bullets left and right. He used Lucavi again to teleport the others to a safe location as he prepared for battle.

"Kill him!" commanded the maester as Fox evaded like a madman. Fox had the advantage in the sense that he could hack away at anyone he wanted while the guards had to take care not to shoot thier own. Fox decapitated and impaled around twenty guards when the others decided to run for it. Fox watched as they fled and prepared to face the machina, who were not programmed to flee.

Fox saw that there were about ten ground machina that were equiped with a huge bolder type hand for crushing as well as armor and a small machine gun. On top of that there were also seven or eight flying machina that were raining bullets and small explosives on him. Fox sent a wave of dark energy at a ground machina and knocked it off an edge to its doom.

Fox realized he would have to rely heavily on Lucavi in order to win here. He cast a barrier to deflect bullets as he focused Lucavi again into his hands. He sent dark energy spikes through the ground which shot up and impaled several of the ground machinas. He darted at a nearby machina and slashed it several times. The machine fell over as sparks shout out of its damaged body in all directions.

But Fox had let his guard down for a second too long as just then a bullet tore through his calf. He dodged and quickly healed the wound.  
Fox decided it was time to test his new arm and grabbed his sword. He held it with the Lucavi arm and found that he could strech the arm quite far. He used this as he snaked his new arm right through several machina.

He quickly realized the sword was quite unessecary as his new arm had powerful claws. He dropped the sword and proceeded to destroy the rest of the land machina with ease. He saw that the flying ones were still unloading on hin as he prepared darkness energy to decimate them. However just as he took his shield down to fire he found he was unable to move.

In all the commotion of battle he had forgotten Seymour who had just cast stop on him. He watched in horror as several missile headed towards his head. They exploded with terrible force and Fox was thrown over the edge. He opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself alive and well.

"I GROW TIRED OF SAVING YOU HUMAN. PERHAPS NEXT TIME I'LL LET YOU DIE." Lucavi said to him. Fox used his arm again and found that it had many more uses than he had given it credit for. His arm melted away as it traveled to his back and reformed into large wings.

Fox soared through the sky as he chopped the machina's levitating mechanism off one by one, all the while dodging Seymour's spells. After he had taken care of the machinas, Fox landed and faced Seymour. He reformed his arm back to its normal shape before he spoke.

"This time you won't survive." Fox said as he charged the guado. Seymour dodged Fox's sword as he slammed his staff across Fox's head.

"You can't kill me and you can't stop me." Seymour said as a wall of fire launched itself at Fox. Fox dodged to the side and dashed at Seymour again, this time extending his arm and trying to pierce the maester with his claws. Seymour evaded once again and was readying a spell before he was impaled through the spine. The maester looked down and saw Fox's hand sticking out of his chest.

"How?" Seymour said before he saw that Fox's arm could travel through shadows. "Ha, no matter. I'll just come back." Seymour said as he fell to his knees.

"Not this time." Fox said as his shadow hand dived back into the maesters body.

"Ahh! What are you doing?" Seymour cried in pain.

"This new arm of mine has many uses guado. You are about to experience the most terrible of all of them, the power to crush souls." Fox said as his arm emerged from Seymours body holding a glowing ball of energy.

"Your soul is tainted Seymour, say farewell to it." Fox said as his shadow claws stabbed into the former maester's soul. Seymour didn't even have time to scream as his life was ended. His limp body fell over and a trickle of blood made its way out of the corner of his mouth.

Just then hundreds of Bevelle soldiers had arrived on the scene. They saw the dead maester and charged at Fox, who looked at them and evaluted the situation. He slammed his shadow arm into the ground and teleported in a swirl of black energy.

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The others were outside the cloister of trials when Fox contacted them.

"Seymours dead." Fox said simply.

"Are you sure this time?" Auron asked.

"Yes, the maester is dead for sure. Thats good news for you, they'll be too busy coming after me to worry about the rest of you." Fox told them.

"Where are you? How did you get to a safe location so fast to contact us? And what's the deal with that black energy you used?" Rikku asked concerned.

"I'm back in Macalania woods right now, it's in the opposite direction than the Calm Lands so it'll throw them off our trail. When Yuna obtains the aeon continue to the Calm Lands and i'll meet you there." Fox said as his form disappeared.

"Wow, that guy's somethin else if he killed a maester, ya." Wakka said as they entered the cloister of trials.

"I hope he's gonna be okay, Bevelle's soldiers aregonna be out for blood." Rikku said worried.

"Don't worry Rikku, Fox will be fine. Let's focus on the task at hand." Auron said. They all nodded in agreement and continued towards the chamber of the fayth.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fox had already made his way to the Calm Lands after only a few hours. Fox had relied heavily on Lucavi back in Bevelle and he was paying for it now. He was exhausted as he awaited the others arrival. Fox had spent his down time resting and observing the Calm Lands.

The place was huge and full of scars from previous battles with Sin. He noticed one that was much deeper than the others as it formed a huge trench that cut the Calm Lands in half. Fox wondered how deep it went while he stared into its deapths. He drew his eyes off of it as he saw the others had just entered the Calm Lands.

Fox was heading towards them when something happened that caught him entirely by surprise.

"RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" came a roar from inside the trench. Fox watched in disbelief as the shadow beast emerged from the deep hole. The beast was badly injured, its body was severly burned and large chunks of its armor had been blasted off. Its right arm ended at the elbow and its legs had been blown off as well. On top of that its left eye was now a bleeding hole and only half of its jaw remained intact.

It was no less fearsome however as it dragged itself towards Fox with its one functional arm and a look of pure fury on its face. It left a huge blood trail behind it as it came suprisingly fast for how injured it was. Fox dodged an energy attack as he drew his sword and prepared to fight the creature for a second time.

Fox leapt onto the shadow beasts shoulder and drove his sword into its neck. The beast let out a howl of either pain or rage as it tried to claw Fox off its shoulder. He jumped off of the beast and focus Lucavi into his arm. Fox luanched the Lucavi blast at the beasts exposed stomach. There was a gush of blood and tissue as the blast infliced heavy damage.

Blood spattered Fox's face temporarily blinding him. He wiped the blood from his eyes just in time to see the shadow beasts hand come crashing down on top of him. The hit sent Fox sprawling to the ground and left him riddled with broken bones. Fox tried to get up but he quickly realized it was a futile effort. He watched as the beast raised it hand once again and prepared to deliver the final blow.  
The final blow was stopped however, as the ronso Kimahri had arrived just in time to prevent Fox's death. 

Within seconds the shadow beast was swarmed with Fox's comrades. Tidus was on its back slicing chunks of flesh off like crazy while Lulu and Wakka were bombarding the beast with ranged attacks. Meanwhile Kimahri and Auron were dealing the heavy hits and causing some major damage. Even Rikku was inflicting pain by slashing out vitals.

Fox watched as the beast slowly gave into its wounds and its movement began to slow. The others leapt away from it and watched as the beast bleed out. Fox saw that the beast had a look of utter rage in its face as it made a last ditch effort to kill its mark. The beast launched a small energy blast at the group but it hit a couple feet short of where they stood. It still caused a large explosion which caused Fox and the others to shield thier eyes until the dust settled.

When the dust had cleared Fox saw that the beast had one final trick up its sleeve after all. It had a massive ball of energy gathered at its chest, Fox realized what it planned to do immediately. Even though Fox was heavily injured he knew that the others would die if he didn't do something. He focused all his remaining Lucavi power into a massive shield in the hopes that it would at least half the blasts power.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" the beast let out its final howl as the energy ball exploded. Fox could see huge chuncks of the shadow beasts flesh and armor fly in all directions as the wall of fire closed in on them. Fox saw Yuna cast protective spells as Lulu threw her strongest water magic at the explosion.

The blast collided with his Lucavi barrier as Fox put all his energy into holding up the barrier. His strength faultered however, and just when he thought he couldn't hold the barrier any longer it suddenly became much more powerful. Fox blinked in surprise as he reached the only logical conclusion.

"Lucavi, you claim to want me dead yet you keep preventing my demise." Fox said to the demon inside him.

"HA! I AM ONLY SAVING YOU SO YOU CAN MEET DEATH AT MY HANDS YOU PATHETIC HUMAN!" the demon roared as it held up the barrier effortlessly. Fox watched as the explosion slowly subsided and collapsed in exhaustion. His battle was not yet over however, as soon as he had passed out another battle raged in his head.

"YOU ARE TOO WEAK TO FIGHT ME OFF THIS TIME! YOUR BODY WILL BE MINE, HAHAHA!" the demon shouted maliciously as it attacked him in his own mind. Fox was weak but he still had power here. Fox prepared to fight a hated enemy alone for the third time in one day.

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Rikku watched as the barrier deflected the massive explosion. She couldn't believe how powerful Fox had become. Every time she saw him he was stronger and stronger. She watched as he fell over in exhaustion no doubt and studied him as he lay there. Rikku admitted that Fox was easily the strongest of them all but she didn't like his powers.

Rikku had trouble putting it into words, she didn't believe that Fox was a bad person. He was a little cold and seemingly uncaring but not a bad person at all. There was just something about his power, something dark. She didn't like to admit it but he scared her. She kept feeling as if he might attack them all.

She wasn't sure where the feeling came from but she'd had more than a few nightmares about the man. Rikku knew he had a terrible secret he was holding back from them. She could see it in his eyes, a sadness just behind the surface. SHe got the feeling that something terrible had happened to him that he couldn't quite let go of.

So Rikku just watched as the others carried the tired warrior to the inn for a nights rest. She stayed where she was for a second, still lost in thought, before following the others into the inn.

----------------------------------------------------------end of part eight

I wanted to get this chapter up sooner but now i have a job on top of college plus i have to help my dad out working on a house. So the next few chapters may take awhile as im gonna be TIRED as hell.

Also, if you want me too update sooner review. Even though i'm gonna be busy if i get enough reviews i'll bust a chapter out. 


	9. The Night Before Zanarkand Rewritten

Okay, i know. You guys hate me for waiting so long. It's been forever and i'm sorry. I broke my own finger as punishment for keeping you waiting. So, just for your information i'm going to be rewriting this fic from here onward, cause i didn't like the way it was headed in before. If any of you guys are still out there i think you'll like the direction i took this in.

Much better and more interesting. This has alot of backstory for Gray Fox and the whole Metal Gear universe. I put in some original stuff because that's the way i imagined it going down, but all the major events from the first 2 metal gear games are there. No au in the storyline.

I will be updating this fic regularly again, as a mixture of boredom and me playing FFx has reminded me of it.

Hope you guys are still with me out there.

(also was joking about the broken finger thing, and this was done on notepad, so you should lemme know if you find spelling errors. I proof read it as best i could but some stuff just gets by you ya know?)

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Part Nine: The night before Zanarkand

Fox awoke to his surprise in a warm bed. After a few seconds he remembered the final battle against shadow beast and the following battle with Lucavi. Fox rose to his feet and guessed that he must be at the inn. He grabbed his things and made his way to the door. He walked outside and saw the others talking nearby.

"Hey there sleepy head! We thought you'd never wake up!" Rikku said in her usual upbeat tone.

"How long was i out?" Fox asked.

"About a day. I was able to heal all your injuries so we should be able to head towards Mount Gagazet." Yuna told him as they began to cross the rest of the Calm Lands.

"But i can't believe that thing was still alive! I was sure it was toast after home blew up, ya." Wakka said without thinking.

"Wakka!" Lulu scolded him as her eyes darted to Rikku.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, ya." Wakka said as he hung his head. Fox was still feeling stiff when they finally reached the bottom of Mt. Gagazet. The cold wasn't helping him either as his joints felt like they were on lock down. The group marched up the snowy mountainside prepared to face all the tough monsters Gagazet had to throw at them.

After a half days walking and quite a few monster encounters they had made it near the summit. Auron had decided they should rest and prepare for the powerful monsters that waited for them in Zanarkand. This didn't sit well with Fox, he didn't know why but the last thing he wanted was to not keep going.

The others were pretty run down however, so Fox decided not to argue. He picked out a spot in the very back of the cave and laid down. He was looking forward to sleep as he got comfortable, but Lucavi wasn't having that. Fox was pulled into what he now called "The Dark Room" where Lucavi was waiting for him.

"Hmph. You are a troublesome Fox. It pains me too admit it but i cannot defeat you. I have fought you at your weakest and you still bested me." Lucavi said. Fox could tell the demons pride was hurt from saying that.

"Why did you call me here demon?" Fox asked.

"I have to tell you something." replied Lucavi.

"Well out with it then." Fox spat back, this demon was wasting his time.

"You were not sent here to defeat Sin." stated Lucavi, as if there were no doubt.

"And how is it you know this?" questioned Fox.

"BECAUSE MORTAL, I HAVE TOLD HIM." came a deep voice from the darkness.

"Show yourself! What are you!?" Fox shouted.

"CALM YOURSELF LITTLE MAN, YOU HAVE NO POWER OVER ME. I AM AJORA, THE BLOODY ANGEL." answered the great demon as it stepped into the light. It was huge, at least 20 feet tall. It was encased in bone and rotting flesh, it reminded him of a giant floating corpse in the final stages of decay. But instead of a skull it had a huge bone helmet, rimmed with spikes. Where there should have been eyes, there was only blackness.

"I AM THE DEMON LORD, AND LUCAVI IS ONE OF MY MINIONS. HE SERVES ME AS YOU SERVE THE STONE CIRCLE." the demon explained.

"What do you know of those who brought me here?" asked Fox, equally confused and outraged. This situation was becoming more and more bizarre by the moment.

"THEY REPRESENT ORDER IN THE UNIVERSE, I REPRESENT CHAOS. IN ORDER FOR THEM TO BRING A SOUL FROM ONE WORLD TO ANOTHER THEY NEEDED MY CONSENT. BUT MY CONSENT IS NOT FREE." said the demon in its commanding voice.

"The price was that i be the host of Lucavi." Fox said, comprehension dawning on him.

"YES, AND I HAD HOPED HE WOULD BE ABLE TO OVERPOWER A SIMPLE HUMAN, BUT HE HAS FAILED ME IN THIS TASK. YOU HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OF YOUR BODY, AND HIS POWERS ARE NOW BEGINING TO TRANSFER TO YOU." the demon spoke with hatred in its voice this time, departing from the emotionless speech it had demonstrated before.

"So why have you called me here then? Why inform me of this?" Fox inquired.

"I HAVE CALLED YOU HERE TO SET YOU UPON THE RIGHT PATH. REGARDLESS OF LUCAVI'S FAILURE TO POSSES YOU, YOU STILL HAVE A PURPOSE IN THIS WORLD. HAVING MADE AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STONE CIRCLE NEITHER OF US CAN ACT UNTIL IT IS RESOLVED." the demon answered.

"You are both forced to wait and watch me?" Fox asked with shock. He had never suspected he was part of some celestial television program.

"THE STONE CIRCLE BET THAT YOU WOULD END SPIRA'S CYCLE OF REPETITIVE DEATH AND SUFFERING. I BET OTHERWISE. THAT IS MEANINGLESS HOWEVER, THE REASON I CALLED YOU HERE IS TO REWARD YOU FOR BESTING MY MINION." the demon replied.

"And what, may i ask, is my reward?" Fox responded fox with mock courtesy.

"THE NAME OF YOUR ENEMY. IT IS NOT SIN AS YOU BELIEVE, IT IS A GREAT SHADOW NAMED OMEGA. YOU ENCOUNTERED IT'S LESSER COPY, ULTIMA, ALREADY. THE GREAT BEAST YOU MANAGED TO DISPOSE OF IN THE CALM LANDS. YOUR TRUE ENEMY IS IT'S MASTER." answered the demon as Fox jolted back into his body, which was lying in a very cold cave.

"Fox get up, the Ronso are coming!!" said a voice Fox thought to be Lulu's.

"What? Why is that a problem?" asked Fox groggily. He walked outside and looked down the mountain, and sure enough a horde of angry Ronso were charging towards them.

"They want revenge for the murder of Maester Seymour! Fox, we have to hurry to Zanarkand. It's holy ground, the Ronso won't set foot on it." Yuna said as they began trying to outrun the Ronso. Fox could see it wasn't going to happen, as the Ronso were much larger and more athletic. Fox stopped and turned around, all they needed was a large enough lead...

"What are you doin man, we gotta run ya!" shouted Wakka as everyone stopped in the confusion. Fox focused all his power into Lucavi's, no, his own dark arm. He unleashed the most powerful stop spell ever cast, freezing the entire Ronso force in their tracks. He collapsed to his knees as Auron and Tidus ran over to help him move.

"Whoa, that was incredible Fox! You stopped like, 200 guys!" Tidus said excitedly.

"That arm of yours, is there anything it can't do?" Auron remarked as they made their way into Zanarkand. After a tough fight against a particularly powerful fiend, which he had to mostly sit out, they camped for the night. And Fox was forced to endure ridicule and the hands of Wakka.

"Wow, you can stop a whole herd of rampaging Ronso but you can't even fight one little fiend, ya. Haha, you sure you got what it takes to be a guardian?" Wakka said as he laughed. Fox was a little annoyed but otherwise he payed no attention.

"Everyone listen, there are some things I must tell you." Fox announced. The group became silent as he spoke.

"First, i feel it is only fair you know my past. I was a solider since childhood. The government of my country eventually placed me into what they called "The Perfect Soldier Program." The purpose was to make me the greatest solider who had ever lived, and despite my youth they had thought they had succeeded. One day i was sent on a mission to kill a war hero of my country, wh-" he was cut off by Auron.

"You were sent to kill one of your own people? A war Hero?" Auron asked confused.

"You have to realize, our world was very different from this one. We had no Sin, no great enemy. Our enemies were each other, rival nations schemed and fought for power. They used whatever method was most effective, and often times that method was force or assassination." he explained.

"That sounds like a horrible world." muttered Rikku as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"It had it's good places but I never saw any of them. I digress, one day i was sent to eliminate a war hero. They said it was my final test. The man i was sent to kill was the most skilled and proven solider in the world, if I managed to kill him it would mean i truly was the Perfect Soldier. When i confronted him he bested me. He defeated me but did not kill me. His name was Big Boss. He went on to tear the entire fortress apart, and he obtained massive amounts of funds after he killed the rebel leader Gene. I didn't see him for another 21 years." Fox watched their faces as he told the tortured story of his life. He didn't know why, but he left out Naomi and her parents. He believed they would think him a monster if he told them.

"Wait, 25 years later? But you don't look like you're 40. You look like you're not a day over 20." said Lulu.

"Yes well, when i came to Spira I had my youthful body back. Back to the story, in the years between i did many things. Some of them honorable, some of them unspeakable. But that was the nature of being a soldier, you get used. You do things because you are told to, no matter what they are because you believe it is for the benefit of your country. Then many years later me and Big Boss met again. He asked me to join his special unit for gifted soldiers, Foxhound. I did, mostly because I respected him." Fox said as he leaned forward and continued.

"I carried out many missions for him and shed much blood. Then a place called Outer Heaven formed. It was an entire country of mercenaries and soldiers, said to be founded by a legendary mercenary. We got word that a weapon of untold destructive capabilities was being built there, so I was sent in to destroy it." he said as he relived his past.

"Wow, you musta been some soldier, ya." Wakka said with a hint of awe in his voice.

"Why did they only send you in, wouldn't it have been smarter to send some backup?" asked Yuna.

"I had experience with this kind of thing before, and my mission was as mostly fact finding. My main goal was to find out if a weapon of such power was actually being built at all or if it were just some crazy rumors. When i got inside, despite my highly trained skills I was captured. I later discovered Big Boss himself had founded Outer Heaven, and having been commander of the unit that sent me he let his people know i was coming."

"Ahh that guy sounds like a snake! What a scumbag." said Tidus disgusted. Fox laughed.

"Funny you should say that. His code name was naked snake in the old days. You see Big Boss wanted to create a world where soldiers were not tools to be exploited by the government. He explained this to me while I was confined. He was lost faith in his country, all countries in fact." Fox told them as he watched the fire, images from those times replaying in his mind.

"What about the weapon?" Auron asked. Fox had to admit it was slightly humorous to see Auron taking such an interest. Even with all his reserve he was on pins and needles like the rest of them.

"Ya tell us about it and how you escaped!" Rikku said cheerfully.

"I didn't escape I was rescued. And the weapon was called Metal Gear. It had the ability to launch an undetectable nuclear warhead from anywhere on the planet. Do you know what nuclear warhead means?" asked Fox.

"They sound like the great machina bombs of the machina war. They could be launched from very far away and cause great damage." Lulu informed the rest of them.

"Yes, that is similar enough. Metal Gear was a giant machina, with many weapons to defend itself. After i had been captured however, the situation seemed hopeless. But, Big Boss made a fatal mistake, he decided to send in another operative to convince his superiors he was doing everything possible. This operative was codenamed Solid Snake. He was a rookie, and had never been on a single field mission before. He was highly trained but inexperienced." continued Fox.

"Lemme guess the new guy went in there, guns blazin and caused a distraction so you could escape and save the day!!" said Rikku as she stood up and mimed several dramatic movements.

"No. He carried out his mission perfectly. He eliminated any opposition and freed me. After destroying Metal Gear he came face to face with Big Boss. They fought and Snake proved victorious, leaving Big Boss there to die after the self destruction sequence for the base had been activated. But Big Boss didn't die, Big Boss survived." Fox said heavily.

"How'd he survive a whole place blowin up on him?" Tidus asked.

"Because I saved him." Fox said, smiling at the collective gasp that followed.

"But, what the? The guy captured you and tried to kill people!" Tidus said as if that settled it.

"Why did you help him Fox?" asked Yuna, Fox liked how she always asked the important questions.

"Because I, like him, had seen how our country manipulated us. I knew we where nothing more than pawns in their game of global domination, and I like him no longer wanted to participate in it. I helped him to reestablish his power in a different region of the world. This region was called Zanzibar Land. We assumed control of it, Big Boss as it's leader and myself as his Lieutenant and second in command. We convinced the inventor of Metal Gear to produce a second more powerful version. All was going well until Foxhound sent in an operative, Solid Snake." Fox revealed to more gasps.

"Wow brudda, that's some heavy stuff, ya." said Wakka.

"Oh man, so he was there to save you the first time, but now he came to kill you. This Snake guy sounds heartless." said Rikku sadly.

"No, he just believed in what he was doing as Big Boss and myself used to. Eventually I confronted Snake as I piloted Metal Gear. He destroyed it and we were forced to fight hand to hand. In a minefield." Fox said, they were hanging on his every word now.

"How'd you beat him?" asked Tidus.

"I didn't. He broke my arm and threw me into a mine. He left me to die as he went to stop Big Boss." he told them as he saw their shocked faces.

"That meanie! Whats was his problem anyway!?" Rikku said angrily.

"Did he stop Big Boss?" asked Auron.

"Yes, he killed Big Boss. But I want you to know that me and Snake were on friendly terms, right up until the end. We never consider the other an enemy, just a fellow soldier trying to complete his mission." Fox explained.

"Thats crazy, ya." said Wakka in disbelief.

"Someone who hurt you not friend." Kimarhi said, startling a few people.

"So then you came here." Yuna said quietly.

"I did not die, though I should have. As I was laying there waiting for death, Foxhound came to survey the damage after Snake had left. They found me and kept me alive. I was sent to a lab and experimented on. They grafted an exoskeleton over my body, making me incredibly strong and agile, as well as building a stealth system into it. It made me very emotionally unstable however, my mind was in pieces. All I could remember was my loss to Snake. When they gave me control over myself again i slaughtered them all. I headed towards a place called Shadow Moses Island. Snake had been called out of retirement to stop a group of rouge Foxhound agents who had seized a newer and more dangerous Metal Gear." Fox was getting tired of all this story telling. He was glad it was almost over.

"I found and battled Snake inside the facility. Again he beat me, and something about the battle seemed to straighten my mind out. I was able to come to his aid against Metal Gear. It was much more powerful that it's previous models. I destroyed its radar dome, which forced the operator to open its face so he could see, leaving him exposed."

"Oh man! This story is so good! Did you and Snake whoop him good!?" Rikku said, she was on her feet again. He laughed inside, she always saw things in a positive light.

"No. Metal Gear threw me to the ground and crushed me under it's massive foot. I died, and then I came here." Fox finished.  
There was silence for a moment before Auron spoke.

"Is that all?" Auron asked, referring to Lucavi.

"For tonight, yes. It's getting very late and i'm tired of talking." He said as he laid down. The rest of them followed his lead and did the same. After a minute however, Rikku walked over to him.

"Hey Fox? You still up?" she asked him.

"Yes Rikku. What is it?" he asked, half annoyed and half curious.

"Well i just wanted to say, thanks for telling us that stuff. I know it must have been really hard for you." she said as she looked into his eyes. "I used to think you were just a big scary meanie. But now i know why you're so withdrawn."

"Maybe we could continue this some time when i'm not about to fall asleep?" he said.

"Sure thing Fox." she told him, before she did something he had not expected. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good night." she whispered into his ear. He didn't quite know how to feel about this. She was so young, but then his body was young here too was it not? It was more the fact that he had seen and done so many horrible things, while she was still mostly innocent. Whatever it was he felt uneasy about what had just happened, it took him awhile to fall asleep that night.

* * *

Ya i know, this was a long one. But i haven't wrote about this world in a long time and this just kinda flew outta me.

Now lets begin the short verbal abuse by the characters in this story as punishment for my taking so long to update.

Wakka: "Ahh you lazy author! It's not like ya been busy lately brudda! Get off your butt and write about us ya!"

Lulu: "You disappoint me."

Auron: "Lazy weakling."

Tidus: "Don't make me beat you up author! I traveled to Spira i can find you to ya hear!?"

Yuna: "Just try not to get too lazy okay?"

Rikku: "ohh you big stupid! It took you long enough! I've been waiting to get that kiss in the whole darn story!"

Kimarhi: "Kimarhi no like author. He lazy."

Cid: "I've had less than 50 words! write me into the next chapter damn you!"

Seymour: "At least i died before he took an almost two year break..."

Solid Snake: "Who are these crazies!? Campbell come in, i got huge cat monsters, fat guys yelling, should i use the stinger or the famas?"

Campbell: "Negative on the deadly force Snake, tranquilize them and bring them back here for further study."

Big Boss: "SNAKE! I AM YOUR FATHER!"

Gray Fox: "Enough! This is my story! Now go write the next damn chapter author or i'll crush your soul!!!"


	10. The Final Summoning

Okay so i told you i'd be updating this regularly. And seeing as i have absolutely nothing else to do regularly could end up being every day. Don't quite know how im gonna wrap this whole thing up yet but i got's me some ideas, some better than others.

Any whos lets get back to the final fantasy goodness.

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Chapter Ten: The Final Summoning

Fox was first to wake the next morning. He glanced over at Rikku for a moment before scouting out Zanarkand. As he made his way over the crest of the mountain an awe inspiring sight met him. A massive canyon of Fayths, hundreds strong. This must be how the Final Summoning was strong enough to kill Sin, if only temporarily. He took it in for a moment more before returning to camp, he still had to tell them of Lucavi and Omega.

The others were awake when he returned, with the exception of Wakka who was snoring very loudly. Lulu saw Fox had something important to say and kicked him in the ribs, waking him.

"Ouch! What was that for Lu?" he said as he reluctantly sat up.

"Just listen." was all she said.

"All right, I know i said alot last night but i had a bit more to tell you. And this last bits important." he told them, grabbing their attention.

"Aww it's too early for more depressing stuff Fox." said Rikku as she ate breakfast.

"Just listen. After I died in my world, i went to a very large room. There were stone statues surrounding me in this room, and they spoke to me. They told me they needed me to kill 'the beast with two faces'. From what you guys told me i had assumed this beast was Sin." he said.

"How'd you figure that?" asked Tidus.

"They said the beast was a thousand years old, that's how old Sin is. However, they had to pay a price in order to transfer my body to Spira. They made my body host to a demon." he told them, they were shocked.

"A-a demon? So your like demonic or something?" Tidus more mumbled than said.

"No stupid! He doesn't look demonic does he!?" Rikku said.

"Actually he kinda does, ya." Wakka said thoughtfully.

"Fox not demon." Kimarhi scolded the rest of them.

"Thank you Kimarhi. This demon tried to overpower me and take control of my body on several occasions, but i was strong enough to beat him back every time. He is the one who gave me this arm and also the reason i can do such powerful magic. After I beat him back the last time his master came to me, he told me some unsettling things." said Fox.

"Wow, i knew what you were doing was not regular magic, but I would never have guess a demon was behind it." Lulu said, more to herself than the group.

"What kind of things did this demon tell you?" asked Yuna.

"It said that Sin was not the beast I was sent to slay. It said I was sent to kill a beast named Omega. They said Omega's power was growing out of control, and you of course remember the huge monster that we killed back in the calm lands? That was merely a lesser copy of this Omega, much less powerful than the real thing." he told them, they gave each other a knowing look.

"You guys thinkin what i'm thinkin?" Wakka said.

"What are we thinkin?"asked Tidus.

"He's talking about the traitor Omega. A priest who defied Yevon eight centuries ago." answered Auron.

"You know of this evil?" asked Fox surprised, since he had discovered about Omega he had assumed it would be a hard creature to find, not common knowledge.

"We know of it yes." responded Lulu.

"Omega was a traitor to Yevon. As punishment he was sealed within a deep cavern, for all time. No one knows where this cavern is, but it is said to be full of the most deadly fiends in Spira." Auron answered. Fox thought for a moment, it sounded as if this cavern could be anywhere. It could take years, decades even to find it.

"Fox, your thinking about leaving aren't you?" asked Yuna. Fox stayed silent as he thought.

"What? Why would he leave?" asked Rikku confused.

"He was sent here to kill Omega, not Sin. He's been chasing the wrong monster." said Auron as comprehension dawned on the others faces.

"He wouldn't leave though I mean c'mon! After all we've been through? We're his friends." said Tidus simply.

"He's a soldier Tidus. And he has a mission to carry out, one that has nothing to do with us." Lulu replied stoically.

"Fox don't go! Please we could use your help! And we'll miss you...i'll miss you." said Rikku, immediately after wards she turned beat red. The others stared at her awkwardly until Fox spoke.

"Enough. It's my decision, and I have no clue where this cave or cavern is located. I'll stay with you through Zanarkand, until Cid picks us up again. Then i'll ask him if his ship has any way to find this cavern. After that, well I don't know yet." finished Fox as he started towards Zanarkand. The others followed reluctantly.

When they reached the canyon of the fayth Fox stopped as the others took a collective gasp. He noticed Tidus was acting rather strange, he looked like a soldier walking into a losing battle. Fox guessed it was just how he was dealing with the fact that his Zanarkand was now a pile of rubble.

They made their way into the city by traveling over several very large overpasses. When they made their way inside they began to see several previous pilgrimiges, recorded by the pyreflies. Seymour was in one as a child and Auron, Braska, and Jecht were in several.

When they finally cut their way through enough fiends to reach the trials they figured out the puzzles and defeated a rather weak fiend. They went into the next room to discover what Auron had told Fox back on mushroom rock road. Lord Zeon's fayth had vanished. They went into the next chamber and Yunalesca came out to greet them.

"Hello summoner. You have traveled far and wide to reach my chamber. Now choose." she said. The others had looks of confusion on their faces.

"Choose? I don't understand." replied Yuna.

"You must choose a guardian to become the fayth. There must be a bond between the summoner and the fayth. Husband and wife, mother and child, or the bond between friends. If the bond is pure and strong, you will be granted the final summoning. Your father walked this path." she said as she left the room.

"No. You can't do this Yuna." said Tidus.

"What would you have me do then?" asked Yuna.

"I don't know but we'll find a way. We can't sacrifice someone!" TIdus yelled. Fox looked at Auron, who's face told him to hold his tongue for now.

"Please Tidus, what I do, I want to do with no regrets." she said as she walked into the final chamber, followed by the others. Yunalesca approached them and spoke.

"Have you chosen the one to become your fayth? Who will it be?" she asked.

"May I ask something first, will Sin come back even should I use the final summoning to defeat it?" asked Yuna.

"Sin is eternal. Every aeon that defeats it becomes Sin in it's place. And thus is Sin reborn." she replied.

"So that's why Jecht became Sin." said Tidus.

"Sin is an inevitable part of Spira's destiny, it is never ending." continued Lady Yunalesca.

"Never ending!? But-but if we atone for our crimes, Sin will stop coming back ya? Someday it'll be gone, ya?" asked Wakka. He had a look of denial and shock on his face, as if he couldn't accept what he was being told.

"Will humanity ever attain such purity?" she replied, Wakka glanced around with a crushed look on his face.

"This cannot be! The teachings state that we can exercise Sin with complete atonement! It's been our only hope all these years..." pleaded Lulu. Fox understood why Auron did not want him to speak, the rest of them had to find out like this. As Auron had, so they knew what they had to do.

"Hope is comforting, it allows us to accept fate. However tragic it might be." she replied.

"Nooo!" yelled Tidus, while at the same time a recording of Auron played.

"Where is the sense in all this!? Braska believed in Yevon's teaching and died for them! Jecht believed in Braska and gave his life for him!!" a much younger Auron shouted, his voice full of pain and rage.

"They died because they had hope." she said simply. The young Auron screamed and charged Yunalesca with his sword, only to be blasted away by a powerful spell.

The final summoning gives the people of Spira hope. Without hope, they would drown in their sorrow. Now choose, who will be your fayth?" she asked.

"No one. I would have gladly died for the people of Spira, i live for them. But the final summoning is a false tradition that should be thrown away!" she said strongly. Fox looked at Auron again and he gave him the nod.

"Then let us destroy this spirit who continues it's existence." Fox said.

"Ya, lets beat up this hag and find a way beat Sin for good!" shouted Rikku.

"C'mon Yuna lets show her how serious we are." chipped in Tidus. Yunalesca looked at them all with rage, before resting her eyes on Fox.

"You...you are not of this world. You have the mark of a demon on you. Why are you here!? Why have you come to destroy Spira's hope you monster!?" she spat at him.

"I am not here to destroy Spira's hope. I'm just here to help destroy you." Fox said as he lunged and stuck his blade through her sternum. He knew she was unsent however and it would take much more to bring her down. The team split into battle formation and began to fight. Yunalesca was weak to melee hit but she had powerful magic.

Lulu was trading spells with her until a holy put her down hard. Yuna ran over to assist while Wakka, Auron and Tidus ran in for the kill. They each caused massive damage before Fox came in with the finishing blow, he formed his Lucavi arm into a sickle and plunged it into her torso.

The unsent Yunalesca screamed and began to pull something from the ground. It was a massive face with tendrils for hair, similar to Medusa. Yunalesca rested on top of the face and the battle continued. All around him his allies were getting hit by powerful magic and going down. Shortly after Yuna would heal them and they would rejoin the fray.

Kimarhi use Fire Breath and scorched out one of the faces eyes, blinding it's right side. This gave Wakka and Auron enough time to get close enough to carve out the other one. Yunalesca was now trying to guide the monster as it shot off spells in all directions in a vain attempt to hit somebody.

Fox sent his arm into the ground and had it rise behind the beast. He guided his arm to just behind her skull, and then stabbed into it. He dark claws pierced her head as he lifted her from the monster. His allies began to finish the beast as he brought Yunalesca face to face with him.

She was squirming but he had his arm in the canals of her brain. She could not make a move without his say so. He brought her level with him before speaking.

"You are a coward, too afraid to try and destroy Sin for good. You created an entire religion which does nothing but repeat the same tragic tale of death and sorrow endlessly. And after we have defeated Sin for good, the world will know of Yevon's treachery." he said before he ended her life. His arm pierced her chest holding her soul. He tore through the tender ball of light with his dark claws and Lady Yunalesca was no more. He tossed her body aside and joined the others as they killed the face beast.

They were silent as they left her chamber. They had destroyed the final summoning and none of them were sure about how that made them feel, well except for Fox. Fox had thought something like this might happen every since the first time he was told about the final summoning. He had never been a big fan of things that only solved problems temporarily.

He noticed Auron had kept Tidus back to talk to him. He used his superior hearing to catch a bit of it.

"I too am an unsent." he heard Auron say, he was a little surprised by the information but it didn't upset him. He followed the others outside to wait for the airship. Fox had thoughts bouncing around his mind, plans on how to destroy Sin. Each one seemed impossible to pull off. He had seen the creatures destructive power first hand, they simply could not overpower it.

Then he thought about what Yunalesca said, about how each new final aeon becomes the next Sin. How was that possible? It had to be some kind of shell, a host for some other creature perhaps? this seemed likely to him, when its current host is killed the parasite or whatever it is transfers itself to the new aeon. The calm is probably the time it takes to develop its new body, time for it to grow into an unstoppable monster again.

This made sense to Fox, it seemed the only logical explanation. But then again, in Spira logic could be very different.

"What are we gonna do you guys?" asked Rikku, she had only a hint of her normal perkiness.

"I don't know yet, but I will soon." answered Fox. He just hoped what he was thinking would work.

* * *

Okay so bing bang boom. Another update in the bag. Now this had alot of stuff straight from the game, most of the dialog with Yunalesca was word for word. I wanted to keep it that way because it was such a good point in the game, ur all like "oh man that's messed up".

Now for more imaginary character abuse.

Tidus: "Hey i'm not imaginary pal! Rumble with me and you'll end up with some imaginary broken bones!"

Auron: "I'm imagining causing the author some pain."

Kimarhi: "Kimarhi no have imagination."

Wakka: "Man those guys are violent, what happened to forgiveness ya?"

Lulu: "I'll never forgive you for getting me knocked up in the sequel Wakka! Ultima!"

Yuna: "Guys we need to hurt the author not each other, rip his guts out!!"

Rikku: "Wow Yunie, your scaring me."

Seymour: "Can you write me back in author?"

Solid Snake: "Otacon, did you give me the wrong coordinates again? Where's the Metal Gear? Wait i see a flying one! Stinger's away!!"

Otacon: "Ahh snake no, that's an Airship not a metal gear!!"

BOOOOOMMMM

Cid: "hey stop shooting at my ship ya little punk!"

Campbell: "Snake you are cleared to destroy that airship, over."

Grey Fox: "Just get to the next chapter already..."


	11. The Battle in Sin

Chapter Eleven: The Battle in Sin

Thanks to Marluxia Sasaki for his one shot psychokinesis terror. Great one shot which gave me an idea to continue this story. if your a fan of psycho mantis go read his one shot.

**The Stone Circle**

Psycho mantis had been asleep for a long time now. The silent and eternal sleep of death, or so he thought. It was hard to remember things now. He discovered after a moment he was standing, he was breathing again. He opened his eyes and looked around, finding that he was not alone. standing next to him was an old comrade, Vulcan Raven.

"Vulcan?" he asked surprised.

"Mantis? Why are you here, where are we?" Raven said quietly.

"I HAVE SUMMONED YOU FROM THE OTHER SPACE." a deep voice said from the darkness. A large skeletal being floated into the light before them.

"To what end?" asked Raven.

"RECENTLY A MAN WAS BROUGHT FROM YOUR WORLD TO ANOTHER. THIS MAN IS THE SUBJECT OF A CELESTIAL WAGER. HE IS ON THE PATH TO SALVATION, I WISH FOR YOU TO STOP HIM." said the great demon.

"Celestial wager? Are we too be pawns in this bet as well?" asked Mantis, unsure of how to feel about it at the moment.

"IF YOU WISH, YES. I CAN RETURN YOU TO LIFE, WITH GREATER POWER THAN YOU'VE EVER IMAGINED. I OFFER YOU THE CHANCE TO LIVE AGAIN, ALL I ASK IS THAT YOU TAKE A LIFE FOR ME." proposed the demon.

"Have we no choice?" Raven inquired.

"THERE IS ALWAYS A CHOICE. EVEN A BEING SUCH AS I HAS NO CONTROL OVER YOUR ACTIONS. I CAN ONLY SAY THAT TO DISOBEY ME SHALL BRING PAINFUL CONSEQUENCES." said the demon.

"So what do you ask of us then? Who's life do you want us to take?" asked Mantis, eager to live once more.

"HE IS A CHAMPION OF YOUR WORLD. AN ALLY OF THE ONE WHO ENDED YOUR LIVES. YOU KNOW HIM AS GREY FOX." the demon responded.

"We kill this man and we exist once more?" Raven asked with the fire of life in his eyes once more.

"YES, DO YOU AGREE?" was all the demon said.

"We do." answered Mantis and Raven in unison. A dark light engulfed them as they began to fade away.

"EXCELLENT." were the final words of the demon as the two soldiers felt the wind once more.

**Cid's Airship**

As they all stood crowded on the bridge of Cid's airship Fox was deep in thought. He was wondering if and how he could use the fact that Jecht was Sin, and had at least partial control over its actions. Which would explain why Sin had not killed them back in Macalania.

"How are we supposed to know what to do? Ohhh this is so hard!" complained Rikku loudly.

"Just think, what do you know about Sin?" asked Auron.

"Jecht is Sin." said Tidus simply.

"Yes. And what do we know about Jecht?" Asked Auron.

"Not much, ya know." Wakka said glumly.

"He likes the hymn of the Faith!" suddenly shouted Tidus, a moment later Fox realized what he meant.

"So?" asked Rikku, utterly confused.

"We can use it to calm him down, that's why he didn't kill us in Macalania! He only came at us when i stopped singing!" Tidus told them as the others caught on.

"So then how do we use that?" asked Lulu.

"We get the people of Spira to sing. All the people." said Yuna, the determination set into her face like stone.

"You think we can? We ain't in the best standing with Yevon right now, ya know." Wakka said.

"We must." stated Kimarhi, as if that were that.

"Okay, use this ship to get the word out. I'll go help the crew prepare our weapons for the assault on Sin." Fox instructed them as they began to use all kinds of communication devices to contact the various cities of Spira. Fox was helping to clean an exhaust valve when Yuna gave her speech to try and convince the people to sing. In all the noise he could only hear bit's and pieces of it, but he understood the general idea.

He imagined she was convincing because upon his return to the bridge he saw everyone was rejoicing. He saw images of people in the streets of Bevelle, Of Sin becoming motionless in the sky above, and the pilot telling Cid we were only minutes away.

Just then Maester Mika came on one of the comm screens.

"Summoner Yuna, i demand to know why my people are in the streets! Have you obtained the Final Summoning? Is this where you plan to fight Sin, above my city!" he barked at the furiously.

"We did not obtain the Final Summoning, we fought and defeated Lady Yunalesca in order to stop Spira's spiral of death and suffering." replied Yuna boldly. Mika was stunned for a moment before he broke down.

"Oh no! You fools! Do you realize what you've done! You've taken away Spira's hope!" he said, on the verge of tears.

"What's the use of false hope?" asked Auron darkly.

"False hope is better than hopelessness! You have doomed us to eternal sorrow! I have failed!" he screamed as he began to burst into pyreflies. There was a collective gasp of alarm at this, no one had known Maester Mika was unsent.

"A land of death, ruled by those who are no longer alive." Auron said, more to himself than to anyone else. Fox had not felt the chill that ran up his spine at that moment in a long time. That chill you get when you discover something terrible, he had thought he'd be immune to it by now.

"Sin, on the horizon!" shouted Cid as they all broke the moment to look. Sure enough there was Sin, floating motionless in the distance.

"What do we do?" asked Cid as Sin was rapidly getting closer.

"Put us right on top of it!" Fox yelled as the others followed him to the outer portion of the ship. Once there they positioned themselves at the edge until they came to a halt right above Sin. Voices could be heard in the distance whispering a tune.

"Now!" shouted Tidus as they all leaped off. It was a long fall, but something about Spira was different. Maybe it was the magic, maybe it was the gravity, but for some reason long falls were no problem at all and you could even breathe underwater. For some reason it only hit him now how truly different and beautiful this world was.

A second latter the thought was driven from his mind as they landed on a field of sinspawn. Hundreds of creatures of all kinds began to run and lunge at them. They fought with everything they had, each taking on dozens of beasts. Kimarhi was jumping and slashing his way through the crowd, using his beastly strength to plow through.

Yuna had called Bahamut into action and began an aerial bombardment, destroying large crowds of sinspawn. All the while she sent down spells to heal and protect the party. Lulu cast flare's and Ultima's everywhere, and every few seconds giant explosions would punch holes in the crowd of monsters. Usually sending blood and gore in all directions.

Auron and Tidus were standing back to back, encircled by monsters. Tidus held the fiends at bay while Auron charged his overdrive. Moments later he unleashed it and punched a huge hole through the wall of sinspawn, which the entire party began to head into in order to band together.

Fox got there first and put up a large barrier around the party. He could not hold it indefinitely but for now they had a moment to think.

"What do we do!" asked Tidus as he was nursing his wounds.

"We punch a hole." Auron said calmly.

"Already tried that, ya know." said Wakka.

"Not a hole in the troops, a hole in Sin." said Fox as he understood what Auron meant.

"Can you get us through this armor Fox?" asked Auron.

"Yes, but you'll need to keep them off me for a moment." he said quickly, the shield was going down soon.

"Done." said Auron as Fox lowered the shield and stuck his arm into Sin's armor. All around him he heard the sounds of battle but paid no attention, he had to focus now. He maneuvered his arm through the armor that is Sin's back. All he had to do was reach its innards and he could transport the others and himself there.

Sin's armor was impossibly thick however, and though his arm was in deep, the sinspawn were driving back his comrade's. The group formed a tight circle around him, only about two feet away from his body. Finally his arm passed into an open cavern and he took them all threw into what he hoped was a safe, or safer, environment.

They came into an open chamber, colossal in size. Unfortunately it was full of very large fiends. They once again picked up their weapons as they went into battle. Fox decapitated a powerful Behemoth fiend, which called forth a meteor spell before it died. The spell gravely injured Fox as well as Rikku, leaving them weakened. Yuna healed them as they continued to try and cut thier way through.

"There's a spot over there with no fiends!" shouted Tidus.

"Then let's get there!" said Auron savagely. He carved up a pair of Iron Giants and everyone followed him, all the while dodging and taking hits. Finally they broke free of the crowd and made it into the open clearing. They ran into a set of stairs that dead ended. They turned around, prepared to make their last stand, when they noticed the monster's were waiting just outside the clearing.

"Why do they not pursue?" asked Fox exhausted. He dropped to a knee before a voice from behind him brought back up.

"They know this is the path that leads to the final Aeon, a beast far stronger than they." said a giant armored fiend. It stood twenty feet tall, with armor from head to toe. It reminded Fox of a roman gladiator, only much more terrifying. It loomed over them as it descended the stairs.

"I am Ozma, the guardian of the Final Aeon and Yu Yevon. I cannot let you pass." said the huge beast.

"Who is Yu Yevon? Is he the one who controls Sin? Is he the reason it keeps coming back?" asked Yuna with rage in her voice.

"Yu Yevon is everything. Sin is his Armor, he wears it when he walks the Earth. Every so often his armor is broken by the Final Aeon, which is them consumed and turned into his next armor. Yu Yevon is the one who holds the dreamers, the one who keeps our city alive." it said as it drew it's weapon, a massive sword.

"What city?" asked Rikku.

"Who cares! This guy's in our way so i say we make him move!" said Tidus as he rushed into battle. We all followed suit and joined the fray. The guardian was no pushover, it's sword put Auron and Tidus down hard with his first swing. Fox threw a few dark balls into it's armor, which began to melt away in black patches. Lulu placed an Ulitma spell perfectly and managed to hit a spot with no armor. Large chunks of metal flew in all directions and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

"RAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!" cried the beast as it stood up. With a quick punch it sent Fox flying back. He flew to the very edge of the clearing and was only just able to avoid getting snatched by the crowd of monsters. He dashed back over and saw the beast was not so tough after all, Auron and been able to land a devastating stab into it's back while Tidus and Kimarhi took out it's legs. Fox sent his clawed right hand lashing out and tore the beast's throat out to bring it down. It crashed onto the floor with force as the creature was no more.

Fox stood with the others as they all caught thier breath, exhausted fromthe many battles they had just fought. It was silent for a moment before Rikku broke the silence.

"Yahoo! Now lets go whoop this baddie and go home!" she said with an upbeat tone only she could muster at this moment. Everyone Laughed as the tension melted away.

"What? I'm being serious! Don't make fun of me!" she said with an exasperated sigh.

"It was well said." spoke Auron as he started to walk past Fox. All at once he became rigid and stiff. Fox was immediately on guard, it was an unnatural stillness.

"Auron?" Tidus said, wondering what was wrong. Then Auron made his move, he drew his sword and swung at Fox. Even with his quick reflexes Fox was only just able to evade the attack. He dodged with a back flip and drew his own sword.

"Auron! Why do you attack me!" Fox asked as the old guardian rushed him in earnest, going for the kill. Fox was much more agile, however, and was able to deliver a kick which sent Auron sprawling backwards.

"I, I'm sorry Fox. I can't...stop myself!" he cried as he began another assault. Fox used lucavi to ensnare Auron and immobilize him.

"Fox! Don't hurt him!" said Yuna with worry in her voice.

"Not unless I have to Yuna." Fox reassured her as he walked closer to Auron. There was a strange aura around him, as if he were being manipulated. Fox thought vaguely about the past and a strong sense of dread came over him. He could feel the same power he had in Auron, lucavi. No, it was similar but not the same. Another demon?

"Everyone, get ready to fight!" Fox warned them as he began to scan the area for the aura, finding not one but the two bodies it was emanating from. Each was slightly different, but both had massive power like his own.

"They're above us!" shouted Fox as everyone took a defensive stance in unison.

"Found us have you? Very well then, a direct assault would be in order then." said the man with the small frame. he looked frail at first glance but Fox knew he was not. His skin was covered with black tendrils which flailed about. Dark bones protuded from his body in the most frightening way.

Standing next to him was a much larger man, a huge man. He was beastly in form with muscles that looked like they were made out of marble. The large one leaped from the ledge and began to cross the gap between himself and Fox much faster than humanly possible.

"Who are you!" Fox demanded to know as yet another battle broke out. The party scattered as an offensive was mounted. Spells and swords began to rain down on the unknown attackers, the small one had swooped down and begun to return fire with dark projectiles.

"Don't remember us? That is to be expected. We did not know you when you were flesh as Snake did." the large one said as he came to a stop in front of Fox. Swords and spells bounced off him like paper as he stood to face Fox.

"Snake? has the stone circle summoned you as well?" Fox asked as he readied his sword, preparing for the attack that was sure to come.

"Stone circle?" replied the flier with a laugh. "No, the great skeleton brought us here. To destroy you Fox."

"Ajora! Then you too have the power of his demons." Fox realized, just now grasping the threat they possessed.

"Demons? is that what gives us this power? It's irrelevent however, he returned us to life. And for that we owe him this small favor." the flyer said as he began to attack at last. Fox evaded the dark powers as he began to counterattack. The big one still stood in place, a contemplative look on his face.

Fox needed to take to the air in order to be on equal footing with his enemy. The two fought in the large cavern, tearing through the small space with furious speed. The flier sent various projectiles his way, but Fox could tell he was still inexperienced with his new found powers. He conjured a shield and sent a powerful wave the fliers way.

the flier was sent reeling back, and it took a moment for him to recover from the blow. A moment was all Fox needed, and in an instant he had sunk his sword into the chest of his mysterious foe. The small man shrieked in pain before blasting Fox into the wall of the cavern with such force that Fox fell to the ground. The flier's chest began to heal as he was slammed with an Ultima spell and sent to the ground.

"I am host to a demon you say? Why do I not feel his presence?" asked the large man as he remained motionless, deep in thought.

"Because you have not questioned the power he gives you. If you simply give into it he will slowly begin to control you!" responded Fox as he got back to his feet. He had hope the huge man wanted to maintain control over himself, as he had a feeling he was the more dangerous one.

"You are host as well, and yet you control it? You bend it to your will?" Inquired the monstrous man.

"Yes, but you have to take back control. You must find the beat inside your mind and fight against it!" shouted Fox as he sprinted towards the flier. Though his foe had been injured and his teammates had attempted to kill him, he had regained his composure and was reeking havoc on them.

Fox threw himself at the man and sent him crashing into the wall with a powerful kick. The flier recovered quickly however, and his arm formed into a large dark hammer. He swung on Fox much faster than Fox expected and with crushing Force Fox was again sent to the ground in pain.

At that moment the bigger of the two began to scream. He clutched his head and fell to his massive knees. Fox assumed he had found his own demon and begun to fight against it.

"Raven! It's time to fight you damn shaman! Stop whatever your doing and help me this instant!" cried the flier as he sent a dark ball into Auron's chest, putting him down hard.

"Mantis, I will not be controlled by a demon! I am the master of myself, and I will not allow this fiend to hold sway over me!" he shouted as he slowly rose to his feet, slowly regaining mastery over himself.

"Mantis, Raven! Your from Foxhound, I remember you! Snake killed you on his way to metal gear!" Fox said as he rose to his feet once more. He stood for a moment and spoke to Raven. "Keep fighting it Raven! You can be yourself again if you can only overpower that monster in your mind!"

"Mantis, this demon is not so strong! You can best your as well, you are the master of your own mind my friend!" Raven said as he turned towards Mantis with slow deliberation.

"What the hell's going on, ya? Is the big one on our side!" asked Wakka confused as Mantis swooped over him.

"I don't want to fight it! I for one am thankful to whatever returned me to life with such awesome power! I will kill Fox in it's name to show my thanks! Or simply because I can,it doesn't matter anymore! Ahhahah!" shouted Mantis with evil glee as one of his tendrils pierced Kimarhi's shoulder. The Ronso let out a cry of pain as he severed it with a quick slash of his mighty spear.

Fox had had enough of these games, it was clear Mantis was beyond salvation and he grew tired of this battle. Mantis was distracted with evil glee as he overpowered the others, Fox knew now was the time to strike the killing blow. He focused lucavi into his legs and ran with superhuman speed towards his target. He leapt into the air and brought his sword from left to right in a clean and powerful swing. His aim had been perfect and in a moment Manits's head had been severed and the psychic was no more once again. His body released an unearthly scream as the demon left his dead body.

Fox turned to Raven as the others followed suit, moving towards the giant with cautious optimism. The giant was still stoic, his eyes were closed and a look of supreme concentration was on his face. Fox wasn't sure if he was overpowering the demon inside or not, but he was hopeful.

"What do we do?" asked Rikku with a trembling voice. The others stood still, waiting for his answer. They were all ready to fight against Raven if necessary, Fox hoped it wasn't.

"We wait and see who wins the battle of wills. Raven or his demon, if it's the demon...be prepared.

Yeah. And once again sorry for the LONG wait. I know I'm an asshole, blah blah blah. I was just unsure of how exactly to continue until I read Marluxia Sasaki's story and I got the idea to bring in some more mgs character's. I may bring in another but if I do it'll only be one more. Don't want to make the story too crowded with mgs characters, it's meant to focus more on Spira after all.

Wakka: Fox has knows some crazy people, ya!

Lulu: Nobodies as crazy as you Wakka, our baby will need therapy for years.

Auron: Therapy by sword is the only kind you need.

Yuna: Auron!

Tidus: Oh c'mon Yuna, you know he didn't mean it like that!

Rikku: When are me and Fox gonna get some more alone time?

Kimarhi: Kimarhi wants to be alone right now.

Cid: Is anybody even still reading this?

Seymour: Maybe Ajora could bring me back? I want awesome demon powers...

Big Boss: Maybe the author will get off his butt and write another chapter without waiting a year!

Solid Snake: Shutup dad, you were never there for me!

Campbell: Snake, I order you to stop crying right now, we got a mission to complete here!

Otacon: You guys got emotional problems...

Grey Fox: Just kill me now author, I can't take this anymore.


End file.
